


Doubled Whiskey

by Zeered



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Angst, AvaLance, Background Relationships, Background Zamaya, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heist, Organized Crime, Robbery, Violence, criminal!Sara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2020-06-29 20:42:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 75,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19838155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeered/pseuds/Zeered
Summary: Sara Lance is now captain of a criminal group called "The Legends". But most of them aren't aware, that they're doing them for another criminal.This man is in another way connected to Sara without her realizing it.One day, Sara saved a woman from nearly get raped and soon she realized this woman will change her whole life. She might get finally the chance to find peace.But when she finds out about the connection to the criminal, she and the Legends are in danger and must fight their way out of the crosshair.OR Sara has a shitty past and became a criminal and Ava is the new DA in town.---------I don't quite know how to write summaries cause it's my first fic lolThe focus is on criminal activities and upcoming problems for dating criminal!Sara and DA!Ava. This fic is also Sara centered, but there will be one or two chapters from Ava's pov.





	1. The Night We Met

**Author's Note:**

> Aloha folks, this is my first fic so please don't sue me if I doing something wrong. Just write it down in the comments and I try to make it better next time :D  
> Besides English is not my first language, I'm a native German speaker and I kinda sucked at English back in school, especially in grammar.
> 
> Here Sara is round about 19 and Ava is about 24 years old. Nate, Zari, Amaya, Ray, and Nora are all 18. Mick is 22. Infos to upcoming characters will come in fellow notes.  
> I don't know how the school system works in USA so I'm using my endless knowledge of USA high school from tv shows and movies lol.
> 
> Zamaya will happen in the background as same as Darkhatom, but for Amaya and Ray a criminal career is slightly out of character and Nora has other reasons for not being involved in criminal business. There will be some scenes in high school, but not enough for calling it a high school centred AU.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the story :)

"Doubled Whiskey. Neat." Sara said without looking up from her phone.

A few moments later, a glass with amber liquor slid toward her from the left side of the bar. She caught it with her right hand and took a big sip from it.

"Thanks, Mick." Sara addressed the grumpy looking bartender, who only grunted in response. 

"You know underage drinking is a crime, right?" A woman came from the right and jabbed her elbow into Sara's ribs.

"It's not like you've never done it before, jerk." A smug grin appeared on Sara's face, and she quickly hugged the woman standing beside her.

"How was your day, Z?"

Zari, who just ordered a coke, shrugged in response. "Same shit as usual. Math was as lame as it was easy. Felicity coded a new algorithm to see how much time our lame-ass classmates need to solve the equation in class."

"Sounds kind of fun."

"Yeah, it was. How was yours?"

"PE was fun. Mr. Swan chose self-defence as a new topic for the next trimester, so I'm going to kick a few asses." This devilish grin settled on Sara's face, and Zari chuckled at the pictures in her head.

"So you're here to drink, or—" Zari's voice and face turned teasing "—is it already hookup time?"

"Nah, I think tonight's only about drinking," Sara said nonchalantly. "What 'bout Amaya, is she coming around?"

"She got family in town, so she's in charge of her cousins," Zari told her, followed by a sigh.

"So, since Nate has to work for this History project, Ray and Nora are on date night, Amaya has to save Lia's hair from the scissor monster aka her brother, and Mick got us our drinks, it looks like it's all about us toni-" Sara's speech was suddenly interrupted by a certain noise that sounded like Zari's phone.  
The brunette’s lips automatically turned into an apologetic smile, but before Sara could stop her, she took the phone call.  
From what Sara could overhear, there were problems with her little brother which meant Zari would be leaving.

She downed the remaining whiskey in her glass and gestured for Mick to close the tab he had opened earlier.

Maybe I should leave too and just go to train or watch something on Netflix. And I should check up on Laurel.

Laurel…

Sara’s chest tightened, and it felt hard to breathe. Her thoughts drifted to a darker place, all too familiar, and she nearly drowned in the void of the darkness expanding around her.

"Sara?" She felt a hand on her right shoulder, and it was enough to anchor her in the present, keeping the dark corner of her thoughts at bay. She turned and was faced with a concerned look from her friend. "Sara, you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Okay, I have to leave my brother…"

"It's okay, Z, I'm going to leave too."

Zari looked slightly relieved. She paid for her drink and nodded goodbye while quickly heading out of the bar.

Sara released the breath she was holding and waved at Mick, offering a quick, "Night."

She earned a grunt in response, put on her black leather jacket, and walked slowly out of the bar which was called The Waverider. She never bothered asking Rip, the owner, about the name but somehow she thought it was something very personal to him and gave her the feeling she shouldn’t ask.

As she arrived at the parking lot where her bike waited for her, she heard a high pitched voice shouting.

"Let me go, you asshole! Don't you dare to touch me!"

Sara sighed and silently snuck toward the source of the yelling. She took cover behind a car and surveilled her surroundings. Three men cornered what seemed to be a young, tall woman with blonde hair between a wall and two parked cars. All three men swayed slightly. The tallest of them, a brown-haired man, held a knife in his right hand and pointed it at the frightened woman as he spoke.

“Shut your mouth, bitch, and I promise we will only fuck you three times!” His words were heavily slurred and his smile a devilish one.

“Fuck it,” Sara muttered under her breath and pulled up the hem of her black jeans on her left foot, exposing a holster with a small knife. Hopefully, she wouldn’t need it but she rather checked if it was still in place just in case.  
She stepped out of the shadows and into the light of a street lamp and yelled at the men, “Hey, fuck-faces! The woman told you to stop. Get away now, and I won’t harm you.”

All three men laughed loudly and stepped closer to Sara. That was exactly the plan. Now that their attention was drawn to Sara so the woman could make a getaway. But instead, she just stood there in shock.

“Seems to be our lucky day,” the tallest thug said to the other two. “Two bitches in one sitting and they are putting up a fight. I love when they fight back.” His grin got even more disgustingly smug as the three of them stopped in front of Sara.

Sara just stood there and watched them. Her hands raised in fists, readying for the impending attack. 

The smallest man approached from the left side and tried to grab her. Sara dived under his arms and came up behind him. She kicked her right foot against his right popliteal space. He let out an angry cry and kneeled, his back in front of her. She grabbed his right arm, put a foot on his shoulder blade, and pulled. With a loud crack, his arm became limp and hung beside his torso. A quick kick to his head and he laid down, his face in the dirt.

It only lasted a few seconds.

The other men stared at her in shock before they got their composure back and circled around her.  
It lasted around ten seconds, and the brown-haired men waved his knife in front of her and walked out of line directly in front of Sara. He tried to cut her as he stepped forward, ending up exposing his left side.  
Sara took the chance and dodged the attack with a step to her right, jabbing him in his throat before she placed a cross on his nose.

“Bitch!” He called out, his facial expression getting angrier, his smile long gone. His moves became more aggressive but Sara managed to dodge them. The other man was holding back, just looking at them.

The now-damaged tall man started to move and attack her more recklessly, and as he cut through the air from left to right, Sara stepped back and dodged him just in time. She used his lack of defence to her favour and grabbed his right wrist with her left hand, turning it painfully to his right side, and ended up being able to disarm him. After that, she held his wrist and elbowed him in the face with her left arm. He dropped to the ground and stopped moving.

Sara stared at the last man standing and stepped closer to him. His expression turned into one of fright.

“Leave. Now!”

He nodded quickly and began to run out of her field of vision. She turned to the woman who was still just standing there as she had been during the whole scene, still processing what was going on.

“Hey, you okay?” Sara asked, her voice full of concern.

The woman only nodded in response, and Sara noticed a shiver running through her body.

“Good. Here, take this.” Sara took off her leather jacket and held it towards the woman, who simply looked at it. The shocked expression still plastered on her face. 

“Come here,” Sara said as she got behind the woman and wrapped the jacket around her shoulders.

“T-th-thank you.” A small smile appeared on the face of the woman. The light from the lamp highlighted her face, and for the first time, Sara noticed how beautiful she looked. She extended a hand towards the woman and said, “Sara,” with a genuine smile on her face.

The woman took the offered hand and shook it. “Hi, Sara. I’m Ava.” They both glanced at each other and their smiles only grew more.

Maybe the night hadn’t been that bad, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 24.10.19  
> I got beta-readers \\(^-^)/ Thanks to [LadyXana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyXana/pseuds/LadyXana), [AnimagusFireblade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimagusFireblade/pseuds/AnimagusFireblade) and [WardenRoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot) for making this a lot better :P.


	2. Two Women, One Bar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Ava heading to the _Waverider_ and Ava is going to meet Mick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for kudos and bookmarks! :)
> 
> I changed the story after posting the last chapter lol, now it makes more sense to me. There are no changes in the chapter but in the tags. And I changed the age of Sara from 18 to 19.  
> Sara's bike will appear in this chapter and I chose [this](http://moto.zombdrive.com/images1600_/ducati-848-evo-dark-2013-4.jpg)  
> Hope you enjoy the new chapter :D

The two women stand in front of each other and a moment of awkward silence started to settle in. Ava’s eyes to her shoes and back up to meet Sara’s gaze. A small smile appears on her face.  
“Sooo…” a small pause “..since you’re kind of a lifesaver, I really should thank you and maybe.. uhm.. get you a drink or something?” The smile turned into a more uncertain and hopeful look.

“Yeah, that would be nice, but you don’t have to. Really.” 

“No, no... I want to. But I.. I kinda just moved to Star City, so I got no idea where to go, do you?”

“Fine,” Ava's expression went into a more relieved smile. “it turns out there is a bar right behind us. Drinks are good and the bartender is a friend.” Something is amazing on this woman. Sara couldn’t place it, but she wants definitely to learn more about her. 

“Okay, lead the way then.”  
Both women turned to the way Sara was coming from and a comfortable silence sets in.

_______________________________________ 

“Where did you learn to fight like this?” Ava asked as they made their way to the entrance of the Waverider.

“I started martial arts back when I was a kid, I stuck with it and trained different styles. Somehow I became pretty good, I guess,” Sara answered as she held the door open for Ava.

They made their way strictly to the bar and get barstools right in front of Mick.  
“Back, Cap? Thought you were leaving.” A slightly surprised expression on his face.

“Yeah, kicked a few asses. Now I need a drink.”

“What about pantsuit?” He nodded towards Ava who was wearing a navy blue pantsuit and a white buttoned-down shirt. Her hair in a tight bun.

Beautiful, appeared in Sara’s head. She takes the woman fully in and noticed how gorgeous she looks with Sara’s leather jacket.

“Sorry?” Ava’s voice sounds slightly offended rips Sara out of her thoughts.

Sara placed a calming hand on Ava’s left shoulder. “Don’t take offence on it, Mick here has a thing for nicknames. What could the always friendly bartender bring you?” The last words were spoken in an unmistakable sarcastically tone as Sara’s glance wandered from Ava to Mick.

A slight blush appears on Ava’s cheeks by the tender gesture.“Since I pay for the drinks, don’t you think it’s my question to ask?” A small pause and the blush was replaced by a smirk on Ava’s lips.  
Sara's eyes fell to said lips. They look soft. Maybe I could… No Sara, she nearly gets raped, now is not the time for a hookup.

Avas amused voice pulls her away from her thoughts and she decided that she liked this sound.  
“Tell me, what could this little miss sunshine here bring you?” Ava asked and winked at Mick, who only grunted in response.

“Whiskey, I think. You know how I like it, Mick.”  
“For me, it’s a beer.” He nodded and turned around to pour her drink and get the beer Ava requested. When he turned around, he pushed the glass to her and hands the taller blonde a Stefoff-beer, “This is your last for tonight, cap.”

“Oh come on, Mick,” she pouted, “Tomorrow’s job is during lunchtime and it’s only two years more. It’s basically nothing!”

Ava, who has just taken a sip of her beer, chokes slightly as Sara mentioned that there only two years left. Sara, who noticed, got a worried expression on her face, “You okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay.” Ava nodded quickly.  
“So... I think you are no fulltime superhero to save all woman in the city from assholes. What do you do, work I mean? You don’t have to tell me. I just got curious.”  
A shy smile on Ava’s face. Mick turned to the guy next to Sara.

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m in school, repeat a year and hopefully be out of the hell soon. What about you?”

“I’m the new DA, as said I literally just moved here and don’t know anybody or anything.”

This could have been Laurel...  
Right before her thoughts could pull her away from reality, she heard a noise clearly from a mobile phone.

No, not again.

She swallows down the upcoming disappointment, from being abandoned the second time this evening, and turned her face towards Ava who was reading a message on her phone.

“I’m sorry to say, but I got to go. Work emergency.” Her face turned into an apologizing smile, her eyes soft and genuine. “Thank you, again for saving me. Maybe there is a next time?” Her expression hopeful and the lamp from above lights it up, even more, gorgeous than before. She pays their drinks and stood up.

“Yeah, sure.” A moment passes, both blondes were unsure how to say goodbye. An idea pops up in Sara’s head.  
“Hey, I think I’m heading home too. I could give you a ride. The DA’s office is on my way home. And I don’t want you to get shot or something when I just saved you.” Ava chuckled and Sara noticed how beautiful the sound was. She wants to keep it. Obviously, the office is not on her way, but Sara isn’t ready to let her go yet.

“That’s would be nice.” The taller blondes gaze turn down to her feet and up again as she turned a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“My bike is in the parking lot. You just can wait here, if it scares you. It’ll be only for five minutes.”

“No, no. I won’t let you go outside alone. Even if I’m not as trained as you” she said with a wink and takes her hand and pulls her outside the bar. Sara stumbled after her, surprised by the gesture. She liked it though, their hands felt some kind of right together. She waved to Mick and calls out a quick goodbye.

Sara leads the way to the parking lot and to her bike. None of them is aware that they’re still holding hands. As they arrived at the bike, Ava noticed and withdraws her hand with a blush on her cheeks. The smaller blonde already missing Ava’s hand on hers, the soft skin, a bit cold, but still comfortable.  
Sara unlocks the case and pulls out two black helmets. She gets her keys out of her pocket, puts on the helmet and gets on her pale black bike, waiting for Ava to sit behind her back. As Ava gets behind her back on the bike she started the engine.  
Ava’s arms grabbed her waist. Another feeling Sara could get used to. She drives out of the parking lot and in the direction to the highway.

Riding her bike is always a special kind of freedom for her, especially during the night. The wind in her hair, the rumbling engine underneath her and the feeling of speed and control to the bike. It only gets greater when there’s someone on her back, preferably a pretty lady, but with Ava, it feels different. Better, more close.

Within 15 minutes they arrived at the office building and Sara parked on the pavement. Ava is still wearing her jacket. When Ava comes to stand in front of Sara, they both smile. None of them ready to end it now. A moment in silence and smiling at each other passed. Eventually, Ava shifted on her feet and pulls out a card with her name and puts it in the inner pocket from Sara’s jacket, strips it off and handed it towards Sara.  
“Next drink is on me then.” The smaller blonde said smiling as she puts on her jacket. Still warm and with a slight scent of vanilla.

“Maybe it’s dinner.” Ava’s voice small, soft and her eyes went wide when she noticed what she had said. “Only… if you.. uhm ..like.” Her look insecure but still gorgeous.

“Yeah, I like that.” Sara’s voice as soft as Ava’s, her gaze without insecurity but with a reassuring smile and eyes seeking for the taller blondes. Another pause with silence.  
“Goodnight, Sara” Ava says eventually. Her voice still soft.

“Goodnight, Ava” Sara responses. In her mind appears a small hope I will see you again.  
Ava’s gaze turned even softer. Their eyes meet one last time, the taller blonde whispered a small bye, turned around and walked towards the entrance. Sara leaned against her bike and watches her go.  
Ava turned around one last time and waved with her right hand, Sara waved back, still smiling. A warm feeling spread across her body. When the tall blonde disappeared in the building, Sara puts on her helmet, gets on her bike and started the engine.  
She headed through the night back towards the bar, her apartment only two blocks away. The smile still lingering on her face.

_______________________________________ 

When she arrived at her apartment, she strips off her shoes and jacket. She takes out the card.

Ava Sharpe  
Star City District Attorney

“Sharp, hm, that's a proper last name for you,” Sara mumbles under her breath.  
Just at the moment, she heard her phone ringing. A long sigh escaped her throat as she answered the call, already knowing who called her.

“Sara’s here.”

“Night, Cap, changing in the plan. The job will start in three hours” a nasal voice said nonchalantly.

“Alright, I’ll be there, Leo.”  
The call ended. This night is going to be short.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, in the next chapter Legends in action.
> 
> For those who wonder why Ava chuckled on her beer when Sara mentioned that she only needed two more years; it's because she figured that Sara may or may not be too young to be allowed to drink. And she's DA and yeah... But Sara literally saved her life, and I think that's more important ;)  
> Sara and Zari are not allowed to drink, but Leonard and Mick knowing them, they let them drink two drinks at the bar.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the dialogue, I'm still learning how to do this and to include the thoughts from Sara. If you have tips or ideas and things you would like to see, write them down in the comments and I will try to include them. I also searched for quotes from occurring characters, but some of them will come from other characters in this story.
> 
> I don't know how many chapters this story will have and I'm not done with outlining the story so far, but I'll tell you guys if I know.  
> Hope you leave kudos, bookmarks, subs,... have a nice day ;D


	3. In And Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara is running her first job with full responsibility for the entire operation and the team.

It’s already 11:35 p.m. I should get ready.  
Sara just woke up from the routinized power nap the whole team takes before they start every job. Checking up her phone, witch lays still switched off, the SIM-card out, she walked to her closet. The small blonde stepped out of her pink slippers, sweat pants, and jersey. Instead, she puts on a grey sweater, black jeans, and motorcycle boots. One last time her gaze fell over the now dark apartment. By walking through her small hallway she grabbed her leather jacket and her keys. She locked the apartment and makes her way towards the stairs and the parking lot where her bike waits for her.

Five minutes later she stopped the bike in front of the delivery entrance from the Waverider-bar. Next to her parked the black van the team uses for their raids. She walked through the back entrance, knowing that Mick will load and tie her motorcycle inside the van. 

Speaking of the devil, he passed by.  
“Hey, blonde.” He nodded towards her.

“Hey, Mick.” She offered him a smile in response and reached the entrance to the basement.

“Goodnight, team.” Sara greeted Nate, Leonard, Rip, Zari and Gideon and earned smiles and  Hey’s in response.

“Alright, when Mick tied up your bike in the van we have our last checkup for equipment and schedule.” Leonard addressed the crew standing around the cycle of monitors on the table.

“How come schedule has changed?” Sara asked, normally the job would have started in twelve hours during the shift changing from the security guards.

“Zari and I discovered a mail during the planned observation today from the owner of the main target. He would come during his lunchtime and take the objective out for some party.” Gideon said and tapped on her tabled. Said mail appeared on the screen in front of Sara.

Dear William,  
since my daughter’s boyfriend proposed to her last Saturday   
we organize a engagement party and I plan on give the jewelry as a proposal  gift. I will come tomorrow between ten and twelve am during my lunchtime.   
I would be honored if you would join us to this important party, at least you’re a longtime friend to my family.

Have a lovely weekend and send greetings to Angela and the kids!  
Matt

“I’m done, Boss,” Mick grunted as he joined the group, all eyes on him.

“Alright, Legends. Let’s go through the plan one last time.” Sara took the lead on the conversation and tapped on the screen to put on the architect's plan on the screens.

“Z, you know you..”

“Yeah, I know, designated driver,” Zari said with an annoyed face, her voice filled with sarcasm.

“You’re at best in the car, that’s where you gonna hack into the security system, so all alarms and cameras are turned off before where go in there.” Zari nods slightly.

“The turn off will last about 40 minutes, that I can make sure. Besides here’s the USB stick to delete all data about the safe-deposit boxes and customers.” Zari handed Sara the stick.

“Thank you. This will make it harder for the cops to look up, what was taken and what was the target. Mick.” Sara turned her gaze towards him and he looked up from what that hardly looked like a porn magazine. He takes a big sip from his beer and grunt.

“While Zari hacked into the bank you and I pull out the bikes and wait for the signal from Zari. When Z finished hacking we..”

“What exactly makes you think you can pull out the bikes BEFORE I hacked the security?” Zari interrupted Sara with a smirk on her face.

“We know you’re good Z, you don’t have to show off,” Sara answered with a wink and earned eye-rolling from Zari.

“Alright kids, fun is over. Continue Cap.” Leonard pointed out.

“Mick, when we get the signal, we do our move to the westside window. Meanwhile Snart and Nate, you get ready. When the window is crashed you two get right into. Nate, you care about the customers and two employees, tie them up and put them in the first room, second corridor on the right. Mick and Leo, we care about the guards. Those are Black Hawks, mostly ex-militaries and ex-cops. Don’t underestimate them. One will be in the hallway, in the main hall, first and stairs room at the end of the first corridor. In the basement five guards, one in front of each vault and one in line of sight to the room upstairs.  
Leo, you and I fight our way straight to the basement. On the way tie the knocked out guards with zip ties, so Mick and Nate can pull them to the first door, second corridor on the left. Z, when we hit the last room first corridor you unlock the timelock on the vaults and safe-deposit boxes.  
While Leo and I deal with the guards in the basement, Nate, you take care of the computers.” Sara handed over the stick to Nate.

“Where comes the fun part. The part where I can melt the doors?” Mick asked with a furrowed expression.

“I was straight going to this, Mick. Thanks for interrupting.” Sara responded annoyed and continued.

“Leo, you and I rob all the money, files, and jewellery. Mick, meanwhile you melt all the doors in the second corridor. If we are on time, we have three minutes to get out since we're done with the vaults. Leo, you freeze the vaults and the stairs, when we move back. We catch up with the rest and Mick, you melt the doors behind us. Our way back out is through the main entrance. Leo, you freeze the shattered windows and Mick you melt the doors out. They’ll need more time to get in. Nate, you get straight back with the loot into the car to Z. Meanwhile, Z, you shut down the electricity. You know the schedule, take some time to shake off following cops and then head to the safehouse B. Leo, I take you on my bike for backup, we head west and Mick, you east. We see us in the safehouse.” Sara let’s out a sigh. “Any questions left?” No responses. “Good, then let's do it fast and clean, no killing - looking at you Mick - let’s suit up!”

They all left to gear up and check their weapons one last time. She turned around and walked towards the arsenal area. Sara changed to her black leather pants, her corset and changed her leather jacket to another one and takes her mask. 

She reached out for her belt with knives as she feels someone approaching from behind and according to the all too familiar footsteps, it would be...

“Nice breathing, captain.” Rip said and clapped his hands in front of him. Sara turned around and caught the acknowledging wink and undertone in his voice.

“Thank you, Rip.” A smile appeared on Sara’s face and the grabbed the belt and put it on her upper leg.

“You’ve become a damn fine captain, in my opinion.”

“I had a really good teacher, you know.” Sara winked at Rip.

“Boss, we’re ready to leave!” They heard calling Mick from the delivery entrance.

“Guess I should make an appearance out there.” Sara chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, captain. Think I should get used to that.” Rip said and chuckled too.

Sara walked her way towards the van and mentioned everyone to get into the car. Zari pulled out the parking lot and turned up the volume of the music. Some Swedish metal band she recognizes from before. Her gaze turned to her watch.

One a.m.

They’re perfect in their schedule. Zari pulls out in the highway. In ten minutes they will arrive on the target.

\-------------------Ten minutes of an awful singing Zari later-------------------

“Park here, Z.” The van parked in a side street with a direct line of sight to the target for this job. A look at her watch. 

1:15 a.m. Right in time. Hope my first job as a leader is going a simple in and out.

“Alright, everyone ready?” A nod from everyone in response. “Z, your turn.”

“Let’s make them blind.” Zari mumbled under her breath, already on her tablet.

“Leo, Nate, get the backpacks. Mick, get the bikes ready. Everyone turn your com on. It’s codename and mask time.” Sara said, putting on her black mask.

Leonard opened the side sliding door and jumped out, his cold gun in his hand and the hood on his head. Nate followed him with a rubber bullet pistol.

“You got this, captain.” Nate turned his gaze towards Sara and offered her a reassuring smile.

“Thanks, Steel.” Sara smiled back and jumped out of the back door, getting on her bike.

“Cap, 30 seconds left. Get ready to kick asses.”

“Mick, start the engine,” Sara said, starting hers and setting a timer on her watch.

Snart and Nate waited in ready stance for their signal. Mick and Sara waited on their bikes, engines running.

“Five, four, three, two, one” Zari counted.

“Move!” Sara mentioned towards Mick and nodded to Snart and Nate.

Sara and Mick raced down the road and crashed right in the front window wall. The glass shattered around them and the bikes come to stop. There was no alarm. Shocked faces settled on them.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!” Sara yelled with a big grin at the three people in the main hall and gets off her bike. From the right side, Sara saw Nate and Snart approaching. Snart punched the back of his cold gun right on the nose of the guard in the hallway. He felled to the ground and turned unconscious. He tied him up. Nate approached the customer and the accountant standing shocked in the main hall and yelled at them.

“Stand down, don’t move, hands behind your head!” He pointed his pistol on them.  
Both sank on their knees and put their hands to their heads. He tied them up and handed his backpack to Snart. Meanwhile, Sara blocked a right hook with her left arm, grabbed and turned around his wrist and disarmed him. She locked his arm in her left armpit and elbowed him with her right in his face. Blood dropped out of his nose and mouth to the ground. He grunted and tried to free his arm from her but ended only punched in his throat. The Black Hawk fell to the ground and Sara tied him up. Snart handed Nate’s backpack to Sara.  
Mick picked up the guard in the hallway and threw him to the ground near the other unconscious guard. At the same time, Snart runs into the guard in the first corridor and tossed him to the ground. The guard throws a punch in Leonard’s face and he crouched back. Holding his nose, Snart stood up, ran towards him and kicked him in the stomach. Then he kicked him in his face and pulled out a zip tie and tied his hands behind his back. Leonard looked back and saw Sara nodding to him. Time to move to the stairs.

“Heat Wave, Steel, take the hostages to the bureau. Don’t forget about computers!” Sara yelled backwards and went on along the corridor with Snart on her left. “Isis, we’re about to get to the basement. Get ready.”

“Copy that.”

Sara and Leo sneaked their way towards the last door on the floor. Sara peaked in the room.  
“No guard in sight,” Sara whispered. Leo nodded and mentioned Sara to go forward. Sara kicked the glassdoor open and looked to the left, then to the right. “Come out, come out.” She mumbled under her breath and then she noticed the tipped-over desk on her right. She ducked and mentioned for Leonard behind her to watch out on the right.  
Right then a shot was fired.

Meanwhile, Mick picked up the security guards and tossed them in the first bureau on the right side in the second corridor. He checked the zip ties and consciousness. One of the four moved slightly and Mick punched him in his face. His head fell back to his left side. At the first bureau on left, Nate tossed the two other hostages inside and checked up their ties. Stepping outside to the corridor, he turned his gaze to Mick.

“Heat Wave, let’s have some fun and burn the computers. And don’t forget to melt the door frames.” A grin on his face.

“Alright, Pretty.”  
It was right then when they heard a shot has been fired.

At the same time in the stairs room, Sara felt a hot soaking wet on her waist. Her face shocked. Leonard ran to her left and fired his cold gun. Something fell down the stairs. They take cover behind the desk. “Shit,” she cursed. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Cap, are you okay?” His voice clearly concerned.

“Cold, Canary, is everything alright? Do you copy?” Nates voice nervous.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine guys. I’ve been shot before.” She answered through her comments.  
“Cold, you need to fire the cold gun right here,” her index finger pointed at the open wound, “This way I will not lose much blood and we leave no DNA-evidence behind. Do it.” She hissed in pain.

He readjusted the power and aimed at the wound.  
“Alright. One, two..” Then he fired a short salve. The wound is now covered with a thin layer of ice. Sara hissed in pain and muttered Fuck under gritted teeth.

This fucking hurts. Just..breath. In and out. In…. and out.  
Sara looked at her watch. 15 minutes left

“Isis, be ready for unlocking.”

“Copy that, Canary.”

“Cold, give me cover.”

Snart nodded and counted with his finger, one, two, three. Leonard fired an icy blue cone down the stairs, as he ran them down. Sara is right behind him and sprinted forward and tossed one of five guards down, with a punch in his face he’s gone unconscious. She tied him up. Snart distracted the other four and drove them behind the last vault.

“Isis, start hacking.”

“Copy, Cap.”

“Cold, changing plan. I’ll get them. Start to get the objective.” An acknowledging nod towards her.

“Timelocks and safe-deposit boxes are open now.”

“Copy that,” Snart replied. Sara handed him her backpack and started running to the nearest guard.

“Heat Wave and I have all doors melted, I’m starting with the stick now.” 

“Copy that, you guys have 13 minutes left.”

“Copy,” Snart answered and begins to empty the vaults.

Sara blocked a few punches and kicked the guard with her knee in his stomach. He fell limp to the ground. The small blonde started running and dodged a hook, she stopped behind the back and kicked in his back. He fell to the ground, protecting his head with his hands. Sara pulled out a zip tie and grabbed his wrist. She got him by surprise and tied up, then she punched him in the face. His eyes shut. The next one approached and tried to kick her, she blocked and kicked him high in his solar plexus. He stumbled back and coughed. His protection drowned and Sara used the lack of attention to punching a right uppercut under his chin. With a loud thud, he dropped and lay unconscious on the cold ground.

With a sigh, she faced the last one. He ran towards her and tried to land a jab in her face. Sara dodged it by dive under his fist to her right. She threw a jab to his face but he blocked it and grabbed her left wrist. She turned around so her back is in front of him and elbowed him with her right in his throat and pulled her left arm with a jolt down. He fell over her back on his face, unconscious.

She tied them all up and pulled them into the first vault. “Status, team?”

“You’ve got five minutes left,” Zari said.

“Copy that. We’re done here. All data deleted and main doors melted.” Nate replied.

“I’m nearly done, Cap. Five more left.” Snart’s nasal voice come through the coms.

“Alright, Legends, Steel and Heat Wave, get ready to disengage. Isis get ready for shutdown.”

“Copy that.” Nate and Zari replied simultaneously, a chuckle is following.

“I’m done, Canary,” Snart reported through com.

“Two minutes left. You need to extract. Now. No cop’s incoming yet.”

“We’re on it. Cold, let’s get started here” Sara replied.

“I’m on it.”

Leonard froze the vaults and they ran upstairs, while Snart froze the stairs, Sara grabbed her swords. They left the room and Leo froze the door. Mick and Nate were waiting for them in the main hall. When they get there, Snart handled the bags to Nate and froze the last door. Nate ran outside the building where Zari waited with the van. He tossed the bags from Leonard inside and throws himself in the passenger seat.  
Mick, Sara, and Leonard get up on the bikes. They drove through the shattered windows and Leonard froze it behind them.  
“Shutdown, now.”

“On it, Boss,” Zari replied, “Tonight’s going to be cold for them.” She chuckled slightly.  
“Whole system shutdown in three, two, one. Light’s out, baby.”

“Good job guys. Let’s move out of here, you know you’re way and schedule. Shut your coms down after copy.”

“Copy, Cap. We’re heading out, see you soon.” Nate replied. She earned a nod from Mick in response.”

“See you.” With that, Sara turned her com down. Zari pulled the van on the street and disappeared in the traffic. Sara drove towards the west when Mick drove towards the east.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter is already in work and will be out soon.  
> About Sara's injury, the bullet grazed her waist. It might not be realistic that she could move and punch as nearly as good as she can do without an injury, but she's well trained, it wasn't her first wound, even from a bullet, and adrenalin should push her limits.
> 
> I used [this](http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2013/11/arrow_caity_lotz.jpg) as inspiration for Sara's outfit during jobs.  
> In an earlier version of this chapter, Sara wears short swords, 'cause in season 4, episode 4 Sara mentioned the prefer knives and swords. I deleted them from the suite up-scene and kind of forgot about the rest of them in the chapter. I deleted them now, sorry if you've been wondering. Don't know yet, if Sara will stick by them or use a bo staff or batons or her staff from Legends.
> 
> Wish you all a nice day! :)


	4. Bone Structures, Peter Pan And Canaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Leonard arrived at the safe house to meet the Zari, Mick, and Nate. Later the day Sara and Ava meet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,
> 
> I wrote throughout the entire night to end this chapter and now it's longer than the entire work so far lol.  
> The chapter is edited, I hope I killed all the mistakes.  
> I kind of forgot in the last chapter to share the ages of Snart, Rip, and Gideon. Sooo, Snart is 23, Rip 31 and Gideon 30.  
> For dating!Avalance I highly recommend the song "Forever" by Billy Raffoul ;)
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

After an hour of aimless driving through the city and no cop’s on their backs, Sara pulled the bike on the highway towards outside the city. Two hours later, they reached the small path whose leading to the small house. Abandoned from the town, people and the internet. If someone tries to track and follow them, that’ll be much harder out here and they don't know the surroundings. 

Sara parked her bike in the backyard in a little shed. As she gets off of her bike she hissed in pain, that’s radiating from her waist. The thin ice layer was nearly molten. She walked side by side with Leonard into the house.

Inside Zari, Nate and Mick were already waiting. “Hey Cap, nice work!” Nate approached her and held his hand high for a high five. She takes it.

“Thanks, Nate.” The movement in her waist caused another painful hiss. 

“You alright blonde?” Mick asked.

“Yeah, not my first time, a bullet hit me.” Sara tried to say it nonchalantly through the waves of pain radiating from her wounded waist. 

“I’m gonna call Gideon for medical assistance,” Snart says, already left into the kitchen where the only phone was.

“Thanks, Leo.” Sara tried to smile and suppress another hiss.

“Since this is your first job in which you had the full responsibility, I think we should drink to that,” Zari suggested with a smirk on her face.

“I’m into that,” Mick grunted as agreement.

“I’m in too, you earned it, Sara.” Nate smiled warmly at her.

Even if the pain is getting stronger and the thin ice on her leather jacket is still melting, she’s still happy to have such a wonderful team on her back on which she can rely if she needs to or not. 

“Gideon is here in two hours, with Rip. During this painkillers and booze have to make it up for you, I think.” Leonard said as he reappeared from the kitchen. He walked straight to the backpacks full of money and jewellery and opened the left. He pulled out a bottle, “I broad you a gift, found this in one box.” He handed Sara a bottle with an amber liquid in it. The bottle looked very old. “It’s some expensive Whiskey, don’t waste it, Captain.” He winked.

“Thanks, Leo.” A genuine smile on her face.

“And also congratulations to the first job you planned on your own. It went nearly perfect!”

“Even though I’ve been shot?” Sara chuckled, only a hint of insecurity in it.

“You don’t get killed and we got the money, so yeah, it was good.” Zari's voice was sarcastic, but she put a reassuring hand on her back. 

“I’ll get glasses,” Mick grunted leaving for the kitchen and reappeared moments later with five glasses. Handed each of them one and Sara poured some Whiskey in each. After giving them the glasses, Sara cleared her throat and held her glass high.

“To the best family and team, a captain could wish for.”

“Cheers,” Came from everyone, except Mick, he already drunk half of his whiskey. She looked in their eyes, a genuine smile on her face and her heart warm. This bunch of people was the best family she could imagine. Since her former family doesn’t exist anymore, these lovely-idiotic people are her best chance to get back, what she once thought was lost forever. Even if she has to deal with a Nate who was smacked by a disgusted Zari on his left shoulder for trying to hug her and after that a Nate who was chased by an angry Mick for stealing his beer. She loved them, it was her own chaotic but a rather heartwarming family full of idiots.

\----------------------------------------------------

Two hours later Gideon and Rip arrived at the little house surrounded by trees. Gideon and Rip greeted them warmly. Leo and Rip talked about the purchaser for the main target in this heist. The jewellery will be sold to a contact in the darknet.

In the meantime, Gideon treated Saras wound on the left side of her waist. She lied on the small kitchen table as Gideon began to clean and disinfect the wound. Knowing Gideon knew what she had to do, her thoughts drifted to the previous hours in the evening. To a certain tall blond with vanilla scent and that beautiful smile. Sara lost track of her surroundings and couldn't hold back the innocent smile that appeared on her face. She didn’t see the genuine smile that formed on Gideon’s lips as she noticed Sara’s facial expression. The older woman couldn’t remember the last time, Sara looked so carefree, so peaceful and calm. Sara didn’t even notice the stitches that Gideon was beginning to do.

“I think we’re done here.” Gideon’s voice pulled her back from her thoughts.

“Thanks.” She answered her cheeks slightly pink as she noticed her smile and the knowing smile on Gideon’s lips. Moments later she jumped off the table and wanted to escape the conversation, Sara knows Gideon would start. 

“You wanna talk about what or who makes you smile so wide that you didn’t even twitch during the stitches?” Gideon’s smile widened to a full grin on her mouth. With that, Sara’s embarrassment grew.

“Last night I had an encounter with some assholes. I kicked their asses and saved a woman. Ava. Back at the bar, she bought me a drink. I gave her a ride to her bureau. She’s the new DA. She was really...stunning.” Sara sighed and leaned against the table.

“Do you plan to see her again?”

“She gave me her business card. No number, but with her name. But she’s the DA. Maybe it’s not the best idea for a criminal to date a DA.” Her brows furrowed.

“Or maybe you give her a try. I think the last time I’ve seen such a genuine smile on you was in the picture you showed me from you and Laurel years ago. You had long enough hookups, Sara.”

“Give who a try?” Zari said, joining the two women in the kitchen. A moment passed by and none of them was about to say something, only looking at Zari. Then Sara could see the exact moment Zari got enlightenment. “Ohhhhhh, you two talked about the woman Mick talked about earlier. He called her pantsuit or something.”

“Her name is Ava and I don’t know if this is the best idea, Z. She’s a DA.”

“Come on, Lance. She’s a woman, she has boobs, that’s all you need as motivation.” She winked at Sara.

Sara grunted in annoyance. “Shut up, Z.”

“Just kidding. Maybe Gideon is right though, give it a try. Your last relationship was in 2015 with that crazy Arabian girl. What was her name?”

“Her name was Nyssa and she’s from Afghanistan, jerk. And you know I don’t do feelings.”

“You could use that to at least spy on her to get information about what the cops know about us.” Zari chuckled.

“You’re clearly the best friend everybody could wish for.” Sara’s voice was drowned in sarcasm and she rolled her eyes in played annoyance.

“Just give it a try, Sara,” Gideon said with a reassuring voice. 

“I’ll see.” Sara sighed.

They heard laughter from outside the house and the kitchen was flooded with the smell of something burning. Sara looked at the other women and rolled her eyes. They walked outside and Sara was the first to see Nate holding an iron bar tied with one of Sara’s knives on the other end. Some meat was on the knife and Mick used his heat gun to grill it. Nate was the one who laughed, Mick ate sausage with his free hand and Leo and Rip shook their heads in disbelief. Typical Legends situation.

While Zari walked towards the little table where the rest meat waited to be grilled, obviously to look for some poultry meat, Gideon stepped to Snart and Rip and gave the letter a quick kiss.  
Sara turned her gaze to the sky where the sun began to rise. The dark blue vanished and a light blue conquered the sky. From behind, she heard Zari yell at Mick because he forgot the chicken and only brought pork. Slight pink stripes began to crash through the blue and damp mist settled between the trees and shrubs.

Sara gazed at her watch.

Six a.m.

They would all leave in six hours back to the bar. Then the normal routine for the time after a heist will be over. It’s Saturday and she had nothing planned so far. She sighed.

Maybe I should give it a real try.

She decided to call the DA bureau later this day. First, because she had no idea what to say because Nyssa was indeed her last relationship and for nearly four years she’d only done hookups. Second, her phone was still in her apartment.  
An idea started in the back of her head to work itself out. She will do it. She will ask Ava out.

\----------------------------------------------------

Back in Sara’s apartment, she hovered over her phone. There was something that she doesn’t know the name of, it feels like some kind of nervous, maybe she was a bit flustered.  
She put the SIM card inside and pushed the power button. After a few moments, she unlocked her phone and googled the DA office telephone number. She copies and pasted it and pushed the call button.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

“District Attorney Sharpe’s office. Stephanie speaking. How can I help you?” A friendly voice echoed through the phone. Sara’s face turned pale. She’d really done it. For a moment she remained silent, don’t know what to say until the words find her again.

“Hello, my name’s Sara Lance. I wanted to talk to the DA personally. If it’s possible.”

“I’m sorry, but I have to say, that Miss Sharpe’s schedule is already filled with appointments. I could set one for in…,” A small pause,” two weeks?”

Sara sighed. “I only want to speak to her, I don’t need an appointment. Please, if you could…,” An idea popped up in her head. “Could you just say her the woman from last night called and give her this number?”

“What was your name again?”

“Sara Lance.”

“Ohhh, you're thisSara Lance. I'm sorry, Miss Sharpe instructed me to put you directly through. A moment, please. ”

One moment later she heard another female voice that she recognized as the voice from Ava.

“Hello?”

“Hello, here’s Sara.” She felt flustered again.

“Hey, Sara. Here’s Ava.” The soft and sweet voice caused the flustered feeling to swept away.  
“Nice to hear from you so quickly. I almost thought you wouldn’t call me. Even if it’s been only...fifteen hours.”

“How could I not call such a beautiful woman?” Sara felt her usually smirk appear on her face, she was back in the game.

“Thank you.” Sara could nearly hear the shy smile on Ava’s face.

“Since next.. thingis on me, I would like to invite you to something more special than just dinner. Tonight, if you want.”

“Okay, sure. Sounds good.” The answer came quickly and Sara could hear that Ava was a bit unsure what to expect.

“It’s nothing scary, I promise. And far more fun than the usual dinner thing. You need to bring workout gear and maybe something to change after. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“With the bike?” There was something in her voice, Sara couldn't place, maybe something like a smirk or grin.

“Yeah, if it’s no problem for you.”

“No. No, it’s fine.” It was a smirk. Now Sara was the one unsure what to expect. But she was almost sure she would like it.

“See you then.” Sara smiled through her phone.

“Don’t you wanna know where to pick me up?” She heard a chuckle from the other woman.

“Oh, yes. Right.” Sara’s face turned slightly pink in embarrassment, luckily Ava couldn’t see that. “Where should I pick this beautiful woman up, that I just asked out and nearly forget to ask where to pick her up?” Sara’s voice was in a playful over ambitious tone, that caused Ava to laugh. A gorgeous and charming laugh, causing her to smile and Sara wanted to keep that in her heart.

“Pick me up at Johnson Street 145.”

“Okay, see you then.”

“See you then.”

\----------------------------------------------------

Sara was in front of a beautiful house. It was 7:45 a.m. She was early and Sara was never the person to be early on something. But today she wanted everything to be good, she doesn’t know the reason why she doesn’t want this to end in a mess or to end only in one nightstand. She wanted this to be perfect, she wanted this to become something special and far more than just a one-time hookup. And this frightened her. A long time ago she had an almost identical feeling for Nyssa, but this hasn’t begun yet and the feeling was much stronger than the feeling she had for her in the past.

She waited five minutes longer and stepped away from her bike, where she had leaned on, and walked her way to the other side of the road. On the doorstep, she hesitated a moment.

Alright, let’s do this.

She let out a breath she doesn’t know she was holding and pressed the doorbell button. Only five seconds later the door was opened and in front of Sara stood Ava, her hair in long loose curls. She wore a dark grey long-sleeved shirt, black leather pants, and brown ankle boots.

Damn, I know I would like what I get.

A black leather jacket hung over her left arm. On the other, she holds a small back. Probably with her workout gear. She looked stunning, Sara doesn’t know what to say so she starred with a slight gap on her mouth, her gaze running over the woman over and over again.

“Like what you see?” A knowing smirk on Ava’s face as Sara turned her gaze upwards to meet the woman's eyes. She would have felt the blush burning on her cheeks if she wasn’t sinking into Ava’s breathtaking eyes.

“Yes.” Sara managed to gasp. As the taller blondes smirk grew, Sara regained some self-control. “Well, how could someone not like that.” She gestured up and down Ava’s body. They stood there and moments passed by without anything happening, just looking at each other. Then Sara cleared her throat.  
“Maybe we should go,” Sara said, turning around and grabbing Ava’s hand. She pulled the chuckling woman towards her waiting bike and handled her one of two helmets. As they’re both ready, Sara started the bike and drove down the road to the highway. The night was relatively warm considering that it was still march. The sun already set and stars shine bright on the dark black above them.

Ten minutes later they arrived in front of an old, abandoned-looking clocktower. She turned off the engine and gestured Ava to get off the bike. Both women removed their helmets and Sara locked them inside her top case on her bike. She saw Ava’s curious expression and bumped her shoulder slightly.

“Don’t judge until you’ve seen what I’ve planned.” A small smile on her face. Taking her hand again, Sara pulled Ava towards the building. She unlocked the door on the backside with a key she got from the caretaker a long time ago and guided the taller woman upwards the stairs. Sara stopped in front of a door and turned her gaze towards Ava.

“Close your eyes.” She saw the hesitation in Ava’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll guide you.” Sara smiled at her warmly and Ava nodded, closing her eyes. The small blonde unlocked the door and opened it, guiding Ava with her hands inside the big room. Sara let go of Ava’s hands and stepped beside her. “Now open your eyes.” She breathed with a sweet voice, on tiptoes, in Ava’s left ear, causing the letter to shiver slightly.

As Ava opened her eyes she realized she was standing in a big room behind the big clock she’d seen before. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed mats under her feet, a punching bag, two training dummies and something that looked like a salmon ladder. In the left corner was a big wooden chest and above that hung a few swords and batons on the wall. Before Ava could ask something, Sara already explained.

“I thought dinner would be boring. Then I thought maybe I could teach you some moves so you can defend yourself a little if I’m not on your back. What do you say?” Sara shifted slightly from one foot to another, unsure what to expect as an answer.

“This is great, Sara. Really.” The DA turned her gaze to her side to meet Sara’s gaze and a smile break it’s way on the latter’s face as she saw the genuine smile at Ava’s lips. All doubts where pushed away by that smile and for a moment Sara’s eyes fell to Ava’s lips, only to notice how soft they looked. She wondered how it would feel to kiss them. The tall blonde must have noticed where Sara’s eyes hat gone because her smile turned into a smirk and Sara felt a blush starting on her cheeks. It was really time to change positions for giving smirks and blushes.

“Hope you brought your workout gear,” Sara said, walking away to the chest and opened it. She pulled out sweat pants and two pairs of boxing gloves. As she felt Ava’s eyes on her she began to strip off her leather jacket and her buttoned-down shirt. Now she stood there only in her sports bra and black jeans, Ava’s eyes still on her but now with eager shining through them, causing Sara to smirk. When Ava noticed the smirk on Sara’s lips, she ducked her head to hide the upcoming blush on her cheeks. Before Ava turned completely around to change into workout gear, Sara noticed Ava starring on the tattoo on her right ribs. The captain winked towards Ava and the letter turned around and began to change into a loose t-shirt and sweatpants. Sara, already fully changed, now in sweatpants and tank top, tried hard not to stare at Ava’s exposed body in front of her. She turned around quickly before the tall blonde could see the starting red on Sara’s cheeks.

A few moments later, Sara turned back towards Ava, who was waiting for her. After some warming up exercises and some stretching, Sara handled Ava a pair of boxing gloves and puts on her pair.

“Ready to learn how to fight like a girl?” A grin appeared on her face as Ava nodded.

After showing the basics in boxing they went on to do some actual sparring. It turned out, Ava learned quickly and was good at fighting. She threw a quick jab-cross-jab combo at her and kicked with her right foot on Sara’s upper leg. Sara blocked the punches with ease but was slight to late to dodge the kick. She stumbled back and Ava used this chance to trip up Sara’s left leg and push her back to the ground.  
It caught Sara fully off guard and she founds her self now locked underneath Ava, only inches apart from the letters lips. Ava’s gaze fell aswell to Sara’s lips and before one of them could lean in for a kiss, Sara’s instinct got in control over her body and she flipped them over in one flawless move. Now Sara hovered over Ava’s body and she could feel the warmth radiating from the taller woman. All tension in the captain's muscles swept away and she began to lean down towards the gorgeous woman laying under her. The last thing she’d seen before Sara closed her eyes, was the stunning blue-greyish eyes closing in front of her. But again, before their lips can meet each other, the loud siren from an ambulance echoed between the houses and the clocktower and pulled both women out of what they’re going to do.

“Maybe we should get up.” Ava’s voice was hoarse and went hot against Sara’s face.

“Yeah, maybe,” Sara answered with an as well hoarse voice, but not wanting to let this go. She did it anyway. It was not her intention to rush this, better safe than sound and her next opportunity would come.

Sara let go of Ava’s hands, which she had pointed above her head and stood up. She reached her hand to get Ava’s and pulled her to her feet.

“Another round?”

“Sure.” She earned a smile from Ava.

Both women hold their guard up and cycled around. Sara was the first to step forward. She throws a jab-cross-jab-right hook combo and Ava blocked them, countering with a right kick and jab, then a right uppercut. Sara blocked the kick and jab and dodged the uppercut by stepping to her right. The captain jabbed, witch was dodged by Ava and tried to catch her off guard by throwing a cross and shortly after a left hook. The taller blonde barely managed to dodge the cross by stepping to her right side and blocked the left hook, grabbed Sara’s wrist with her right hand and twisting it to the left. She grabbed the letters' left shoulder and pushed her left knee up in Sara’s left waist. A little too powerful.

Sara hissed in pain. Her face twists to a painful expression. Ava had directly hit the graze wound from tonight's heist. Sara muttered Fuck! under her gritted teeth and without a second thought she pulled up her tank top to inspect the stitched bullet wound. Thank god, it was not bleeding. Only as Sara felt Ava stare at her with open mouth, worry and a hint of panic in her eyes, the smaller blonde realized that Ava had seen the wound. Somehow she would have to explain it without telling the new Star City District Attorney that she was shot by a security guard during a heist in a bank last night.

“It’s nothing. It was…” She dug in her brain for a believable explanation. “I had a bike accident last night on my way home.” Not perfect but hopefully Ava would buy that.  
Speaking from the shifting expression from concern into disbelief, she didn’t buy it.

“Sara, I’m DA. I’ve seen graze wounds from bullets before. You don’t have to lie to me.”

Sara swallowed hard, not knowing what to say in response.

“Right. I can explain that.” Her body stiff and she could clearly not explain that.

“Look,” The taller blonde said, sensing Sara’s tension, “You don’t have to tell me where you got this. But it looks fresh and not fully healed.” Ava’s voice was filled with concern, something that hit Sara fully off guard. The woman knew her barely and she already cared about her. Sara was not used to this kind of relationship where people cared about her. Sure, the Legends care about her, mostly Zari and Gideon but in another way. This concern seemed to be based on stronger feelings than her friendship to the other women.  
“Let me take you to a hospital to get you professional treatment. Please.” The last word was spoken so softly, that Sara decided to tell Ava more. Maybe she could prevent herself from that hospital thing and bring Ava to trust her about this.

“Okay, that accident was a lie.” She inhaled a deep breath. “I had an encounter with some douchebags during work last night.”

“Another woman to safe?” Ava interrupted her, a small smile on her face and some tension left her body by that gorgeous smiling woman in front of her.

“No, you were the only that night.” She threw a self-conscious wink towards Ava, trying to ease the tensed air in the room. “They were drunk and I tried to get rid of them, but they wouldn’t let me go, so I had to fight my way out. Two of them were already down, then the last one pulled out a gun and aimed for my chest. Before I could react, he fired. Thankfully he was completely drunk and he missed his target and only grazed my waist as you can see.” She pointed at her wounded left side. “After I knocked him out I called Gideon. She’s Rip’s wife, the owner of the Waverider. A few years ago she worked as a nurse and since I hate hospitals, they kind of scare me, she treated the wound. You don’t have to worry, you see, I get medical attention.” Sara smiled at Ava, trying to give the letter the confirmation she needed that the captain was in fact okay. It wasn’t a complete lie after all.

Ava seemed not fully convinced, but her furrowed brows eased and her expression turned into a more careful look.  
“Just make sure you are safe now and don’t get hurt again, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Sara managed to answer. A grumble from below pulled her thoughts away from Ava’s eyes and turned her attention towards her rumbling stomach.  
“Hey, what do think about dinner?” Sara looked up, smiling at Ava, who smiled back, nodding. “Okay, you get changed and don’t look!” Ava nodded again and turned backwards, walking to her clothes.

Sara walked to the wooden chest and opened it again. She pulled out a picnic blanket and spread it out on the training mats. Then some red pillows to sit on and three candles. She puts the pillows on the blanket and lightened the candles, putting them in the middle.

“Am I allowed to look?” Ava asked from the other side of the room.

“Not yet.”

Back on the chest, Sara fished out her bag with take-out she had picked up, before picking up Ava, a bottle rosé wine, some water, and two wine glasses.

She unpacked the boxes and laid the still warm food on the blanket.  
"Close your eyes, please, " she said to Ava, the letters back still turned to Sara.

"Okay, ready." Sara heard the smile in Ava's voice, it caused her to smile too. She walked towards Ava and guided her with her hands to the blanket and pillows. The smaller blonde let go of Ava's hands and was now standing behind her.

"Okay, open your eyes," Sara whispered in the taller blondes ears, causing shivers down the spine of the letter.

As Ava opened her eyes, she found herself standing in front of a warmly illuminated place with blankets, pillows, wine and a ton of food.

"I don't know what's your favourite, so I brought Asian rice and chicken, Italian noodles, pizza, tacos, French fries, and Burgers." Sara bites her lip, hopefully, there's something Ava would like.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you! I like Asian food though I can't deny noodles." The DA sat down on the blanket, still overwhelmed by the food mountain in front of her.

"What would you like to drink?" Sara said, sitting on a pillow with wine in one and the water bottle in the other hand.

"Since you brought my favourite wine, I think that's my choice for tonight.” Sara poured Ava a glass of wine and gave it to her.  
“I’d like to think that it’s no coincidence, that you brought my favourite wine, am I right?”

“I may or may not called Stephanie again to get that information.” The smaller blonde tilted her head to Ava and locked on her gaze. Both smiling at each other.  
“Someone also told me also that you’re a romantic person.” Her voice teasing and Ava’s cheeks blushed, causing Sara to smirk.

“I’m going to kill her,” Ava whispered through gritted teeth but a little too loud to be not heard from Sara, causing the captain to chuckle.

“Oh, that wasn’t Stephanie. She said she’d work to be done and somehow during the talk, I ended up with a creep named Gary. He couldn’t stop talking about your perfect bone structure.”

Ava’s face turned red in embarrassment. So red, that Sara wondered for a moment if Ava swallowed a fly or something and couldn’t breathe.

“You okay?” Sara asked worriedly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. I think Gary and I going to talk about personal space or something that permits me to fire him.” Anger joined the embarrassment.

But something in Ava’s angry and embarrassed face was adorable and Sara felt that strange feeling again, that had overwhelmed her before. That warm, lulling feeling that let her feel safety and inner peace. She smiled. After a few moments in silence, Ava was still slightly red and some discomfort remained in her features. An idea grew in Sara’s head to make the situation more comfortable for Ava.

“Hey, Aves,” Sara doesn’t know where that came from, but she decided she liked the sound of the nickname on her lips, “let me tell you a story.” The taller blonde tilted her head toward Sara and looked curious, the unease on her face almost gone.  
“Back in elementary school, I starred as Peter Pan in a school play. When it was my time to shine on stage, I forgot my lines. All I could manage to do was a spontaneous tap dance and after that, I cried in embarrassment and ran off stage.” Ava’s lovely laughter caused Sara’s heart to expand in her chest. Her body warming from that beautiful sound.

“What about you? You’re drinking no wine?” Ava wondered she knows, Sara would drive her home, but hopefully not in the next three hours.  
“Not for me today. I’m driving the breathtaking woman in front of me home and since I’m planning to see her again, I wouldn't dare risk to cause a real road accident.” Sara winked at Ava, whose cheeks are already blushed, her eyes in an adorable way on her feet.

Eventually, they started eating, Ava drinking wine and Sara water. They managed to eat up the pizza and rice, both still smiling while some light small talking. Every now and their eyes met for a moment and the air seemed to turn into pure electricity.

“May I ask you two questions?” Ava’s gaze turned to Sara, eyes locking and her face curious.

“Sure, shoot.”

“What’s that tattoo on your rip? Is there a deeper meaning?”

Sara seemed to thought a moment and Ava was nearly sure that she’d seen a sad smile passing by on the smaller blondes lips.

“It’s a canary. My favourite animal.” Her lips turned into a smile at the upcoming old memories. Most times they were a painful reminder about what she’d lost, but talking about it with Ava was somehow easy and comforting, not painful.  
“Nine years ago my dad bought me a canary. Everyone hated it but I loved it and somehow it became a thing between me and…” Sara hesitated a moment and seemed to tense her shoulders, leaving Ava curious, “My sister. When she was about to leave for college five years ago, we bribed a tattoo artist to sting us this tattoo. She had hers at the same place.” Ava noticed a slight trembling in Sara’s voice that only increased her curiousness.  
“That was the only rule she ever broke.”

As Sara remained silent for a long moment, obviously drowned in thoughts, Ava was sure something was going on with Sara. But before she could say anything, Sara was back in tracks and a smile set on her face.

“What’s the second question?” Sara sounds eager to change the topic. So Ava decided to let go, this was no interrogation with some criminal, and Sara thanked her in thoughts. The captain couldn’t bear more old memories, especially from Laurel. Even the thought of her name let pain rush through her body.

“How old are you exactly? Last time you said you’re still in high school, but the bartender, Mick was his name? He seemed to know you and had no problem to give you alcohol.” The DA’s features turned curious again.

“Yeah, about that. I’m 19 and yes, I’m still in that bloody hell. And I know Mick, and Rip, the owner, they’re kind of my family. They know, I know my limits and can manage myself.” Something in Sara’s expression shifted slightly as it hit her.

Maybe it’s not the best idea to tell a DA that they allow you underage drinking, Rip could lose the bar or something.

“I don’t want to play that card, but since I kind of saved your life could you please not report them?” She smiled and insecure but someway hopeful smile. Ava sighed and shook her head. A little upset, that she’d not noticed earlier how young Sara looked.

“Don’t worry. I think, if I would report that, I had to turn myself in too, cause I kind of assisted them.” The ease with that she breaks a rule surprised her, causing her to smile. There was no bad feeling about breaking the law. On the contrary, it feels good, relieving and maybe a bit thrilling. She was not used to breaking rules.

They fall back in easy conversation. Ava told Sara about her new work, Sara tried to suppress the memories from Laurel by the mentioning of Ava’s work. Sara told some highschool stories.

Later, when they managed to ate all the food, they talked further. The wine almost empty and Ava slightly tipsy. Both causing the other one to laugh and smile. During the time they slowly slipped together, until Ava lay on the smaller blonde’s legs, cuddled up in a blanket.  
The hours passed by and during some point in one of Sara’s stories, Ava had to suppress a yawn. The smaller blonde seemed to notice and smiled warmly. Even if she doesn’t want this night to end, maybe they should call it a night.

“Hey, sleepyhead. Maybe we should call it a night and I’ll drive you home.” Sara’s voice was sweet in Ava’s ears, causing the letter to smile. 

“Yeah, you kinda…” She yawned and Sara thinks it was the most beautiful yawn she’d ever seen. “Since you kinda asked me out again, I’m sure I’ll see you. Hopefully sooner than later.” Ava managed a tired yet lovely smile, releasing a smile on the captains’ lips too.

“Come on, get up. Otherwise, you’ll get asleep here.” Sara pushed Ava carefully away from her legs, causing the letter to snarl.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Ava’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Me too, but your body will tomorrow. Trust me, I’ve done this mistake before.” Still, Sara had to smile about her cuteness.

“Okay, but only if you promise me to take me to your bed next time.” Ava smiled an innocent smile.

Still tipsy, but still cute.  
“Alright, I promise.” Sara held her pinky out to her, causing Ava to frown in a very cute way.

“What’s that?” The taller blonde gestures to Sara’s pinky.

“You don’t know pinky promises?” Ava nodded in response. “Then I feel honoured to introduce you to the holy ritual of a pinky promise.” With played over respect Sara linked Ava’s pinky with her own.

“I’ll promise to take you to my bed next time.” Hey, voice still filled with overacted respect and a grin on her face. “And now, get up.” Sara sat up from the ground, threw herself at her and started a tickle attack, causing the taller blonde to jump up to her feet, hardly laughing.

Somehow, even if this is their first date, there’s something special between them. Something magnetizing that pulled them closer together.

When they managed to get up, Ava swayed slightly. Sara grabbed her keys, her jacket, Ava’s bag and guided the letter downwards to her bike.  
As they arrived, they got on the bike and headed towards the highway. Back to Ava’s house. The taller blonde pressed herself against Sara’s back, obviously a bit more than necessary but doesn’t mind.

With low traffic on the road, they arrived eight minutes later in front of Ava’s house. Sara takes Ava to her door. A moment passed by and the two women were only standing in front of each other. Unsure of what to do.  
Sara took one step forward and pulled Ava in a tight hug. The letter hugged back and Sara could feel the body heat radiating from Ava. Her nose inhaled a deep breath full of vanilla scent.

“I’ll call you,” Sara whispered in Ava’s ear and the smaller blonde could feel the shiver running down the DA’s spine.

“Okay” The taller blonde breathed against the captain's ear. And before Ava could loosen the hug, Sara pressed a kiss against Ava’s cheek, causing an instant blush. Sara let go of the taller blonde’s right hand, she wasn’t aware she was holding and stepped back. Biting her lip and turning her gaze from her feet up to meet Ava’s stunning eyes.

“Goodnight.” Ava breathed into the night.

“Goodnight,” Sara said with a fond smile and waited for Ava to go inside. Waving as the letter looked back over her shoulder one last time.

Sara walked, still smiling, to her bike and started the engine.

One last thing to do tonight.

Sara pulled her bike from the pavement to the street, chasing down to East Starling.  
\----------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later, Sara parked her bike in a small parking lot, walking down an avenue of Oaks. She took the left and passed the eastern entrance of the cemetery. After a five minute walk, she arrived at her destination. Her throat tightened slightly.

Breath in.

She inhaled a deep breath.

Breath out.

She let a long breath out and turned around to face the all too familiar gravestone.

Dinah Laurel Lance  
Beloved daughter and sister  
1995 - 2015

Sara’s lips began to tremble slightly and her vision blurred cause her eyes were flooded with hot tears. The captain kneeled and buried her head in her hands. While hot tears streamed down her cheeks, every upcoming memory from tonight cycled in her head. Her sobs echoed through the cold night, unheard between the silent graves. She pulled her knees under her chin and buried her now wet face between them. Waiting for the painful memories to sweep away and her shivering body to calm down.

After nearly 15 minutes full of lonely crying, she began to calm. Still shivering she tugged her leather jacket closer and wined her arms around her knees. For a while, she remained silent.

Then she started talking, telling everything that happened in the last 24 hours. How the heist went, how her date with Ava ended. How stunning she’d looked. How easy it was to talk to her, how strange it felt to lie to her about the shot she’d taken. She told the Peter Pan story she told Ava earlier, even if Sara knows nobody listened.

But somehow it still helped to ease her suffering and grief. Talking to her dead sister helped to ease the feeling to be pulled into the dark. To be reminded by the fact that her killer was still outside, somewhere. To know that she never would hear Laurel laugh again, that she would never see her smile again. To listen to her talking about Oliver, or how she’d be district attorney one day. That was her dream back then. And it’s kind of funny and kind of sad that she now met someone who seemed to have so many things in common. The love for rules and law, a breathtaking smile, lovely laughter, the urge to tell them about anything even though she wanted to keep it for herself and the care and empathy. But mostly talking to the silent gravestone helped to ease that Sara felt responsible for Laurel's death. That Sara thought, she was the reason why Laurel was dead, why she died lonely in the cold night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again,
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)
> 
> First things first.  
> I may change some tags and the summary. I've worked out round about half the story and my first version was different from what it is now. My first idea was a high school centred fic, but now I'm not sure if the parts will remain in the story. Same with Zamaya, Amaya knows about criminal!Legends but it would be out of character if she'd be a criminal (If you disagree, feel free to write a comment and prove me wrong with some overwhelming reasons ;) ). I have some thoughts for Amaya, Nora, Ray maybe Constantine and Gary, but I really appreciate suggestions from you guys.
> 
> I imagined Sara's tattoo looking like [that](http://img10.deviantart.net/4490/i/2013/309/6/7/yellow_canary_by_mondoart-d6t7w75.jpg) in a black/white version and without the leaves in the background. It may look cheesy, but Sara and Laurel were much younger and probably just thrilled by their first tattoo, not paying attention to how it may look like.
> 
> And yes, Rip and Gideon are married, since December 2016. But the fate of Rip's former family will be explained in future chapters.
> 
> About Nyssa:  
> Nanda Parbat is located in the Hindu Kush (according to the English Arrowverse wiki). The mountain range is centred in Afghanistan and reaches northern Pakistan, China, and Tajikistan. Most parts lay in Afghanistan, that’s why I used this as a nationality for Nyssa.  
> I decided to write yelling Zari cause of missing chicken because I love the thing in season 4 with Ramadan!Zari and Mick.
> 
> Fun Fact: Since I've seen LoT 4x14, every now and then Gary pop up in my head and keeps saying "Now gaze into the nipple!" and causing me to laugh every time. For some reason, he haunts me mostly when I'm kissing my gf and I keep wondering why lol.
> 
> Let me know what you think or would like to read in the next chapter(s)!  
> Wish you all a beautiful day!


	5. Waking Up In The Dark To See The Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara had a nightmare and hope to find comfort in her friends during school. Zari talked to Sara about Ava and Sara got plans for after school. Also a bit of fighting during PE and conspiracy theories in history class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys :D
> 
> Sorry for not posting this sooner, I had some days with my family and was on a short trip to Denmark. BUT this chapter is long, 10.5k words I think. It took me a long time to edit though, longer than I thought. Hope you'll enjoy it! I'm eager to hear what you think :)
> 
> I've also updated the end of the last chapter shortly after I posted it.
> 
> ALSO a trigger warning for violence in this chapter. It's not that bloody but if you have some difficulties with it, then just skip the nightmare-description ;)

Sara had barely slept last night, woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare where Laurel died in her arms, her crimson blood on Sara's hands and nothing she could do to save her beloved sister from slowly being taken apart by death's cold hands. She wasn’t able to remember the whole dream yet but the pictures stuck like shards in her brain.

She lay awake, only to be recognized that Laurel’s death wasn’t just a dream.  
Her mind began to torture her with old memories that used to make her smile but now made everything even more painful. Sara remembered Laurel’s 18th birthday, when her parents bought her a second-hand car and the sisters made a spin through the entire city, driving way to fast and hearing loud music. The joy she felt back then was now agony, running through her whole body. 

She tried to push the following upcoming memories away. Her clothes were soaked with cold sweat while she lay awake in her empty bed, fragments, no longer just pictures, from her dream crashing now onto her. For nearly an hour she was shaken by tremors running through her freezing body. Her eyes were puffy from the hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt numb, empty, drowned in the darkness that surrounded her. It stretched out its hands towards her and Sara wouldn't send them away. She wasn't even capable of fighting against them.

Some days the emptiness inside her climbed it's way up out of her subconscious, in tow the doubt that she's worth someone's love, that she deserved to be loved at all. Not only because before her sister died, Sara destroyed Laurel’s relationship with the love of her life, but because Sara let her die alone.

Somehow embracing the darkness eased her suffering and lulled her back into sleep. It was a restless sleep though, filled with darkness and shards of her nightmare.

When her alarm woke her up, her eyes were framed in dark shadows, yet a bit puffy, and every step of her morning routine took quite a while longer. Ending in her being late for meeting Zari on time in school.

Sara pulled her bike into the parking lot of Star City High School. It was Monday morning, at 7:40 am and freezing outside. Dark clouds hung deep in the sky, making this day even more miserable to her than it already was.  
She locked her helmet inside the top case on her bike, like she locked the rising darkness inside her head in a small tiny box inside her. The smaller blonde crossed the area quickly, walking straight towards the entrance. Her body felt worn-out like she became sick only from having the nightmare.

When she finally gained sight of her locker, Zari and Nate were already waiting for her, the letter leaning against his locker and Zari against the wall. Other students around Sara kept their distance to her, some out of respect for her popularity, others out for her reputation, scared of run into her. Knowing that she would kick their asses with ease or do something worse, even if she wouldn't harm them seriously. But today she was definitely not in the mood for some run into or conversation with people except her friends.

Deep inside her, she wished Zari would be her normally sarcastic-shitty self, Nate be as excitable as ever, Amaya so caring and sweet like she always was and Ray would lighten up everyone with his almost annoying positivity. Paired with Nora's snarkiness, all of them had the rare ability to calm Sara down and distract her, to push her feelings away. Somehow they always managed to make her smile, that was one of the main reasons for their friendship. 

Nate waved, as their eyes met and bumped Zari’s left shoulder slightly. He quickly regretted his action when Zari kicked his shin. He winced and mumbled something Sara couldn’t understand, she was still out of earshot, causing Zari to shot him an annoyed, typical Zari face. When she arrived, she gave both a quick hug.

“You’re late." Zari gave her a once over. "And look like shit." Her voice first suggestive than transformed into honesty, the teasing smile on her face became smaller.

"You're okay?" She asked, concern in her voice.

“Don't wanna talk about it.” Sara pinched the back of her nose, she felt a headache incoming.

"Okay, no feeling talks today.” Zari held up her hands, then forming a smirk on her lips again.  
“BUT I want to talk about why you were late back home yesterday." The teasing tone celebrated his comeback.

Sometimes she doubted her mental state for calling this teasing, sarcastic and lovely little piece of shit her best friend.  
“You’re a real pain in my ass.” Sara made an over-curious expression. “Why am I even friends with you?” She couldn’t bite back the upcoming urge to snicker.

“We both know, you wouldn’t survive a day without me.” Zari’s mouth formed a smug grin.

“Neither do you without me.” Sara winked at her best friend, feeling already better by the familiar dynamic both share. 

“Wow, I’ve never seed you two share such a love-filled conversation before you had at least ...three drinks.” Amaya joined the group, she chuckled slightly when she saw the smirks disappear from their faces. She moved towards Zari and gave her a brief kiss, whispering a Love you in her ear with a grin on her lips. Next, she hugged Sara tight and then gave Nate a quick hug.  
Sara noticed a slight tension between them and shared a look with Zari, she nodded barely recognizable. It seems, Nate and Amaya had spoken about his feelings for her, but fortunately, he gave the impression that he came around with the relationship between Zari and Amaya. Sara wouldn’t know what to do when this would’ve become a problem between them.

Suddenly, Amaya searched in her bag and took out three cups. “I made coffee this morning," She pointed at Sara," You look like you could really use some. Bad dream again?”  
Sara nodded.

“Wanna talk about it?” Amaya asked.

“No, at least not yet.” Sara sighed with a hint of exhaustion in it.

“Okay, I understand, then maybe the caffeine can help you.”  
She winked and all three of them a cup. Amaya considered herself not as a coffee-person, more as a tea-person. Specifically, a traditional tea made from a root out of her former home back in Zambesi. But now and then she made coffee in the morning to surprise her friends and this morning Sara was more than thankful for it.

“You’re a goddess, you know that?” Sara said, grateful for the caffeine that will wake up her still sleepy brain and hopefully ease the headache that had sunk in. Amaya beamed and Zari clasped her arms around her girlfriend.

“She’s mine.” The playful warning expression on Zari’s features caused all of them to laugh heartfully.

“Wow, you’re all so happy in the morning.” A nonchalant but still a bit surprised Nora appeared from behind Amaya, hand in hand with always-smiling Ray.

“Why are all of you so surprised that Zari and I can laugh anyway?” Sara was genuinely curious why all her friends doubt her ability to laugh, though she understands why they all doubt Zari’s.

“Because you’re both grumpy in the morning, especially without coffee. But as I can see Amaya cared already about that,” Ray said oblivious with his typical kindness. Sara sighed but smiled, he got a point. They shared hugs and shortly after that, the waring bell ringed.

"Aaaand the gates to hell opened, see you guys during lunch. Ray, Nate, you're coming?"

Both nodded and waved to their friends, who were already heading towards their classes.  
Zari turned around one last time and called, “Don’t you think you can escape that talk, Sara!” She laughed and Sara’s eyes rolled back in her head like she wanted to deny every evidence of their existence. Sara falls with both boys into step and they walked down the corridor to their history class.

“What was Z talking about?” Ray asked as he had no clue what Zari would be referring to. Well, Ray being Ray, he couldn’t have a damn idea.

“You know Z, she overreacts to literally everything.” Sara tried to avoid more talking until she had at least drink half of her coffee.

“Overreact to what?” Nate tried to keep up on the conversation.

“Oh, I think, that Zari wants to talk about Sara looking very tired this morning,” Ray said matter of factly. Sometimes he was really cute with his innocence and caring mind. It made Sara smile again.

“I don’t think that's tr…”

“Well, thanks for this fond wrapped compliment for my appearance today. But I’m good, I just don’t sleep so well.” Sara cut down Nate and made sure to pace up her step.

Walking through the door, they quickly sat down in their usual places, the only three chairs free in the entire room. Nobody would dare to take them away from them.  
Not even 15 seconds later, Mister Boardman entered the room, putting his bag on the table and started writing the topic of the day on the chalkboard.

Ancient Egypt

“Oh for the love of God, not again. Please.” Sara murmured under her gritted teeth. Beside her, Ray and Nate looked somehow quite happy with the topic for today. The smaller blonde couldn’t understand that.  
This historical period was kind of Boardman’s obsession, especially a guy named Rendall, no... Vandal Savage. According to Boardman, he was a demonic immortal Egyptian priest, planning to rule the world.  
The entire SCHS was thinking he tried to establish his urban myth and sometimes his stories reminded Sara of an evil version of Doctor Who. The funniest part about this is the role he considered for himself in all this. He said he was the son of two other immortal Egyptians who’re cursed to fight Savage for their entire lives. His parents entrusted Boardman with the duty to expose the evil genius during this time, so he wasn’t able to gain the power to complete his plan to subjugate the entire world in the future.

For some reason, he was still a teacher even if he was much older than 65. But every time the principal mentioned to him that he should retire, he threatened a lawsuit. And the principal gave in. It happened at least five times since Sara was on SCHS again. Maybe Boardman was scared of not sharing his theories and that they’ll disappear in his students' heads when he wasn’t able to continue to brainwash them with his crap.

He started his lesson with the redundant explanation of the origin and Sara's mind lost tracks on her surroundings and drifted to a certain tall blonde woman, fortunately not to the nightmare that still stuck in her bones. To Ava’s soft lips, the appealing body, her breathtaking smile, and adorable laughter. The way her loose curls had framed her wonderful face.  
Wondering why her mind blessed her with some good feelings on this day, she reviewed the events of the last two days. The courage she found to call Ava’s office, to ask this incredible woman out that was definitely above her normal target group, even if Sara didn’t realize that this group exists. The embarrassment she felt when she was too nervous to talk clear or forgot to ask for her address, but the easiness with what Ava changed the embarrassment into something fun. Remembering this put a glowing smile on her face. The way Sara’s stomach flipped when she saw Ava opening the door and the comfort in having her around, sparring, dinner or just chatting about unimportant things. The safety she felt when she looked in her greyish-blue eyes, grounding her. The reluctance she felt when both of them suggested Sara should bring Ava home. How her restless soul settled down on this night.

Sara felt her heart warming, feeling warm for the first time this day, her heart grows and suddenly she feared it would explode right out of her chest. Though she knows this woman barely, the tall blonde already felt like some kind of home, a safe place. The number of feelings Ava made her feel frightened her a little. Frighten about getting hurt or worse - rejected by Ava when she’ll find out about Sara’s fucked up past and her even more fucked up soul. Frightened about when Ava find out what Sara actually does at the Waverider. Frightened that Sara would give herself completely in the love and then end up hurting Ava or scaring her away as she does with everyone who tried to come near her, except for her friends.

Laurel would have known what to do. She would’ve loved her…

Immediately the images of her dream crashed into her mind again, pushing the warmth away and let shivers run down her spine. The pictures from earlier became clear, starting to form the entire dream in her head. Her mind was pulled in the darkness back again and drowned in memories from last nights dream.

Both Lance sisters walked down the dark street, hand in hand, both smiling. They passed a few blocks and suddenly Laurel stopped in front of a house, looking up to a window that was filled with warm light. Laurel's eyes widened.  
The next thing Sara know was Laurel yelling at her, a hateful grimace on her teary face. Sara couldn't make out the words her sister was throwing at her, only hearing a loud piercing noise in her ears. Sara could not understand what was happening around her. Why Laurel screamed at her and why she was angry. She hadn't seen anything. Sara felt a nausea settle in. Abruptly the smaller blonde felt anger rising in her chest, the urge to yell back, to stop her sister from freaking out, but she couldn’t, Sara couldn’t even understand what this was about. Laurel was still yelling at her and Sara’s pent-up anger increased, changed into raw hatred.  
Her mind was filled with red and the sudden urge to jump onto her sister and punch her right in the face, to stop whatever this was about. To stop the feeling that she had to endure this without knowing what she’d done to deserve it. Laurel had no right to treat her like this. The smaller blonde clenched her jaw and tightened her fist. Her teeth began to hurt while Laurel was still yelling angrily at her, hurt rushes every one and then through her features, Sara’s fists became pale from upcoming rage inside her.  
She couldn't bear the hate she felt radiating from Laurel any longer. She needs to end it. Need the hatred and pain inside her to end. With the growing amount of despise in Laurel's voice, her words still don’t understandable t Sara, the need to get away from this, to get rid of it, became stronger. Intensifying with every hateful glare or word.  
Her nails dug painfully into her flesh. The noise got louder and louder, higher and higher, her view became blurred, her head felt heavy and a migraine settled in. Sara tried again to scream her rage out. She failed. Laurel looked at her with a mixture of pain, hatred and despise. Her anger escalated inside her, she wasn’t able to hold it back any longer.

Enough. She couldn’t bear this any longer. It was enough.

Sara’s view became red, she felt a cold thing in her hand that hadn’t been there before. She stepped forward, fully lost control over her body, into Laurels' personal space. The letter became silent, her eyes filled with fear, stepping back. She pulled her hands up in defence. Sara, now completely out of her mind and enraged, chased forward and rammed the cold thing in her hand into her sister's gut.  
Laurel fell to the cold ground, staring at Sara in shock and disbelief. Her hands holding the thing that just left Sara’s hand. A knife. With the blood leaking out of her sister’s body, the anger and rage swept away. Realization of what she’d just done and what Laurel caused to be so angry at her soaked into her still aching head. She crushed down beside her sister, tears streaming down her cheeks. The smaller blonde pulled Laurel’s hand into hers and pressed it tightly.

“I… I don't mean to d-do that,” she whispered between her sobs. “I just want it to end..”  
“I’m... sorry. I’m sorry, Laurel. For what I’ve done to you. Please, stay with me. Please.”  
Sara's voice changed from a barely hearable whisper through her sobs into a cry with shaking words. Full of despair. She’d done it again. She killed her own sister.  
Laurel's eyes became unsteady and eventually rolled into the back of her head. Her whole body became limp and Sara led out a loud despaired cry into the hollow night.  
It all turned dark around her, leaving her alone with the pain the felt inside, the only thing that’s holding the emptiness back. All the dark thoughts creeping up her mind, out of their cage, while her sister lay dead in her arms. Her soul gone, taken away by death and Sara’s soul in his tow.  


At the thought of this nightmare, her jaw clenched and her throat became tight. The horror still in her bones, ready to multiply her headache and let her whole body be filled with pain, flushed with guilt.  
Her father was right to make her responsible for Laurel’s death. Sara knows that and these cursed dreams were undoubted evidence for that. Even if she wasn’t the one that had done the kill shot but she was responsible for it.

The smaller blonde closed her eyes for a long moment and tried to take a deep breath. A tremor shook her whole body when she failed, inhaling a low, slightly trembling breath. Hot tears crept their way up into her eyes, she closed them firm.

Don't cry. Just don't cry. Breath… In and out. One… Two… Three…

With each count she inhaled a breath, becoming more and more steady with every intake.

Suddenly she felt a calming hand appearing on her right shoulder, the captain opened her eyes and her gaze flickered up to a concerned looking Ray next to her.

"Sara, you okay?" His voice caring and with the typical reassuring smile on his mouth. Sara managed an unsure lopsided smile.

"Yeah. I'm good, thanks, Ray."

He looked not fully convinced but nodded eventually and turned his attention back to the chalkboard in front of them, respecting that Sara doesn’t like to talk yet. She inhaled a few deep breaths, feeling her flexed muscles becoming more relaxed. 

On the board was a painting that looked similar to one that Sara had seen in one of Boardman's books before.  
He once tortured his class by reading one of his three books about Savage during the summer holidays. This crazy old man threatened the entire class by writing an exam in their first lesson after holidays with 50 per cent weighting in their grade. Most of the students take him by his word and tormented themselves through this conspiracy theory, which was something between the Flat Earth Theory and the theory about Nazis landing on the dark side of the moon during World War II. It was almost fun to read when you don't take him to serious.  
Even if Sara gives a shit about school, sometimes things awakened her attention, like back last year when Dr Ivo turned offtopic in chemistry for a few lessons and teaches them stuff about poisons and their effects on humans. Or when they had the human body with Dr Thawne in biology and Sara used the books to gain knowledge of the most effective ways to hurt people with one or two hits.  
The only thing that was fun for her entirely was P.E. She was one the best in her entire year, even though she was small. People made the mistake to underestimate her agility and strength and most times they ended up with kicked asses.

Due the time, she kept her thoughts away from any Laurel-related, to not provoke another flashback into this sick dream. Turning her thoughts back to the incredible woman with her beautiful greyish-blue eyes that she knows so barely but already shared a special connection to. The sickness she felt from the nightmare swept away slowly and the headache eased with every spent minute thinking of Ava until it was completely gone. Replaced with the familiar warmth that settled with the taller blonde in her mind. Scaring the darkness away,  
Sara realized, that she wanted to get to know everything about Ava, every little detail about her personality, about her history, about her perfect body, and her wonderful soft-looking lips. She wanted to kiss them, to feel them and to never let them leave hers.

Sara felt the sudden urge to see her again, quickly. And she’d already an idea how to do it.

She'll ask her out for tonight and kiss her tempting lips. Hoping to forget about her nightmare earlier and make the day remarkable for something far more likely.  
Sara wanted her not as a distraction but as someone in her life she could hold onto without having the constant feeling that she bear too much on a person, whenever she talked about feelings to someone. She doesn’t want to burden people with her shit. But with Ava, it felt already different, even if she didn’t know anything of her past. And the more she thought about this woman the more she gained certainty that Ava was capable of doing that, grounding her, being an anchor. Relief her from her past.

Some minutes full of blonde hair, long legs and soft lips later, her head was kicked out of its orbit around planet Ava by a loud ringing.Thank God, lunchtime. The smaller blonde could hear her stomach crumble. Reminding her that she hadn’t eaten breakfast earlier because she feared that she’ll vomit when the flashbacks of her dreams hit her.

Sara lifted her yet untouched bag onto her right shoulder and waited for Nate and Ray to get ready. They left the room and fall in step with each other. Shortly after leaving the room the group appeared in the canteen, picked up their lunch and waited for the rest of the Legends.  
The room wasn’t crowded at this time. It was still a bit early for lunch but Sara had only two lessons left and when she would do what she intended to do, asking Ava out, she’ll have barely time to grab lunch after school. Her apartment needs to be cleaned and she’ll have to figure out what to do when they met and how Sara would ask her out in the first place.

Five minutes later Zari, Amaya, Nora arrived at their table with Felicity and Caitlin in tow. They greeted each other briefly and waited for them to get their food.  
Felicity and Caitlin were not really considered as members of the Legends, but they were friends and always welcomed to join them. When they sat down, the group fall in an easy conversation about classes and news in general, mostly gossip. Felicity talked with Ray about something physics-related Sara wasn’t able to understand and Caitlin had a conversation with Nate about their biology project later in the week about the human immune defence system.  
At some point, Zari started a discussion about their next party plans. Last time Amaya was on location duty and this time it would be Nates’ but his parents would stay home in the next weeks and his dad was some important FBI Director, with straight rules and a no party policy.

His dad was also his reason for not joining the Legends criminal crew permanently. Messing with an overprotective FBI dad with well-developed cop-instincts was oobviously not the best idea, Sara had some experiences with her own dad. But sometimes, when Sara and the rest need help, Nate used this opportunity to piss his father off, even if he hopefully will never notice.

Between searching for a date and the choice for a possible theme, Sara lost track of the conversation. Her mind was pulled back to her plans for kissing a certain gorgeous woman and maybe, just maybe the thought of asking her to be her girlfriend emerged in her head.  
She was undoubtedly something special and even though Sara was frightened by the fact that she already feared losing Ava, the smaller blonde felt strangely ready like never before to give it a try.

Since Nyssa and Sara's ways parted and, much more important, Laurel died, Sara had barely invested in relationships. Rip and Gideon were the closest things to parents she had now, but they had started making steps towards her and although they know her for the longest time, they've just scratched on her surface.  
Even Zari, her best friend for almost four years, since she rejoined high school, knows not the entire story about what happened to Laurel and then Sara afterwards.  
The relationship between Zari and Sara was more centred on present things than the past and even though both know they're big softies on the inside, they respect the walls they built through the years and focused more on helping each other deal with their feelings today, not unravelling the past.

All members of the Legends know, that Laurel was murdered, but none of them knows, that Sara felt responsible for Laurel's death and why she felt that way, this wasn’t something Sara liked to talk about or let anyone see. It’s easier for her to push it all away and bury it under her shell. Protected behind her walls.

Her mind drifted away from the Legends and turned once again to Ava and how she’ll try to ask her out again. Sara wasn’t aware of the soft smile that formed on her mouth.

"Sara?" A voice cut through her thoughts.

"Earth to Sara!?"

"Huh?" Her eyes flickered up from the table into Amaya’s brown eyes.

"We were just debating about after school. Nora, Zari and I want to go to the gym. Wanna join us?" Amaya asked Sara.

Normally Sara was the one who initiated gym time and Monday was their regular day but today she had completely forgotten about their gathering. Her mind was occupied by asking Ava out today and if the rather just walk in her department and surprise her or call her again. 

"No, I think I'll pass today." Sara shrugged. Visiting Ava would be more fun and hopefully, she'll be more willing to say yes and throw her appointments out of the window. Even if Sara got a feeling that Ava wasn't so nonchalant about her work. But she could dream though. 

"Usually you're more than eager to hit the gym, unless…" Amaya tipped her forefinger thoughtful on her chin, but before she could end her sentence, Zari interrupted her, eyebrows wiggling and voice teasing.

"Unless you're busy with something, no SOMEONE else." Already in mind who it might be. 

Sara sighed and Zari's allusion caused the whole group to give their conversation a break and turning around to face Sara. All faces either starting or surprised.

"Who's the mysterious person and how long did it take to convince him of her this time?" Nate's all to excited question provoked an eye roll from Sara and a smack on his shoulder from Amaya.

"Is it the woman Mick talked about?" Zari asked with wide eyes, smirking. 

“Wait, what?” Nate and Amaya asked at the same time, not knowing what’s going on.  
Before Sara could talk herself out of that mess, Zari explained the whole group, including Caitlin and Felicity.

“Last Saturday Sara saved a woman on the parking lot behind the bar and afterwards said woman get Sara a drink. Mick said both left a little later and he said she’s really hot.” The teasing grin on Zari’s face grew and it was obvious what Zari played on.

“First, her name is Ava and second she got a call from work and I gave her a lift to her office.” Sara tried to calm the joy that widened in Nate, Zari and Amaya’s eyes. Felicity shifted on her chair, her eyes glowing up. Eager to ask anything that might cross her mind. They’d made always fun of teasing her about girls she dated. Even if they all know it was nothing serious for Sara and only for her to have some fun and sex, a distraction from her emotions.

“Right, and you told me that she’s the new DA in Star City which meant, that her office is in the exact opposite direction than our apartments. Which leads me to the theory that there’s something off with you and her. I don’t remember you doing such thing for anyone else. Not even for me and I’m your best friend” Zari got a point. To support her conclusion Zari shot her a glorious smile, proud that she cornered her.

“Ahhh, that’s cute!” Felicity tilted her head to her left. “I just started shipping you.”

Caitlin chuckled. Even though the calmness, almost coldness, that radiated from her was still there, Sara could see that the shell, in which Caitlin caged herself, began to crack open. Ronnie died in a laboratory accident a year ago during his research assignment at Star City University. She could understand her though, Sara still goes through the same. Processing the death of a beloved one and dealing with emptiness and grief.

"It wasn't that special, I just don't want her to get in trouble again." Sara tried to sound nonchalant though she knows the woman wasn't that meaningless to her.

"Your soft smile a moment ago tell me otherwise. Normally when you're zoned out you look torn and despondent for knowing eyes." Nora nodded to assist Amaya's point, Nate mouthed She’s right and pointed with his forefinger to Amaya.

"Still doesn't explain why you were late at home, it wasn't even Saturday, it was early Sunday, not typical for you." Zari’s look was filled with smug. Sometimes they're very infuriating. Sara was just about to say something when Zari cut her even before her mouth opened.

"And don't you dare to tell me that you were at the Waverider, I asked Snart and he says he hadn't seen you the entire night."

Shit.

"You're a real pain in my ass." Sara sighed, there was no way left to escape this. But as clever as her family is it was only a matter of time until they would've figured it out. Though she hadn’t noticed how obvious she’d looked to her friends.

"Only because you need me to be." Zari shot her a wink. 

"Okay, okay, enough avoiding the interesting part, tell us, how does she look, what was on Saturday night and will you see her again?" Ray asked with beaming eyes full of genuine excitement. Supported by an eager nodding Felicity.

"Well, she's blonde, tall and has breathtaking greyish-blue eyes. She's absolutely stunning. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and that mean something." Sara barely noticed the fond smile that occupied her face when she tells her friends what they'd done at their date on Saturday and that she decided to ask her out again today. 

"Wow, you're so in love with her after only one date that you already ditch us for her," Zari said and Sara knows that this was kind of her best friends way to say her, that she encouraged her in this.

"I'm happy for you, Cap, " coming from Nate with a smile and Ray nodded his head in agreement.

"I think I've never seen you so carefree at school, but don't ditch us too often or we'll find you and your girlfriend and have a talk with her," Nora snarled but shot Sara a wink.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sara almost screamed and muttered under her breath At least not yet. Which no one seemed to hear, thankfully.

"Yeah, but you wish she were." Zari’s mouth in a shit-eating grin, Sara blushed in embarrassment and Amaya smacked her girlfriends arm slightly. 

"What she actually wants to say is, that we're genuinely happy for you, we all." Amaya smiled fondly towards Sara, putting a hand on her back. The support means a lot to her, the remaining family she had, consisting of her friends, Rip, Gideon, Leo and Mick, was important to her. And it was important to her too that they accepted whom she was dating, even if she hadn’t done real dating for quite a long time. Hopefully, this will change in the next time. Although it was scary, somehow frightening, Sara was still eager to find out how this might end.  
Not thinking about the problems that will come when Ava finds out about her criminal activities. And not aware of the other problems that will cross her way.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“So since Nates’ is off for the next party I think, you two are on location duty. And we still need a theme.” Nora started the conversation while walking from physics to their lockers.

“Yeah, seems so.” The captain said and wondered if it was too early to ask Ava if she would like to come along so Sara could introduce her to her friends.

“Well, this time it’s definitely not my apartment. I won't let anyone come near my new set-up and last time Nate vomited on my couch.” Zari pointed out.

“Okay, it’s my then.” Sara and Zari lived in a building with studio apartments in the Glades and both of them had bought an apartment there from their captured money, two blocks from the bar to be able to get there quickly. Most times, when parties were at their places, it was on Zari’s, because Sara doesn’t like the thought of many people in her apartment. But Zari got a point with her new equipment.

“I think it’s my turn to buy the drinks then. Thank you for helping me out.” Nate shot Sara a relieved smile. The group reached their lockers and Sara pulled out her bag with sportswear.

“No problem, anything for my family.” She fondly nudged his shoulder. She was honest, she would do anything to protect them. And perhaps Ava would be a part of it soon.

“We still need a theme, guys,” Nora pointed out.

Sara thought a moment, but her creativity seems to be on a vacation.  
“What about time travel?” Nate asked, his voice full of excitement. “We could dress as persons from the past and things we imagine to be in the future. That'll be fun!”

“Sounds not that bad though,” Zari said.

“Not that bad? That’s literally the best idea we EVER had for a party!” The excitement in his voice grow and his eyes were wide. “We can dress like ABBA, cowboys, or pirates. PIRATES, Z!”

“Pirates sounds fun, Nate. I’m in.” Amaya snickered, delighted by Nates behaviour. It was adorable, Sara thought.

“Okay, settled. A time traveller party it’ll be then.” Sara grinned at Zari’s annoyed face.

“YESSS!!” Nate called out, jumping in the air and giving Ray a fistbump. Sara turned back to her locker to gather her clothes but stopped when she could feel someone approach on her back.

“Hey there, beautiful.” She heard a deep male voice behind her, already knowing who it might be. And she was not interested. Not anymore. Not since she planned on going out with Ava tonight and turning their thing into something serious.

“Hello, Phil.” She turned around, her voice sweet and innocent just as her smile. Ready in her mind to give him a brush-off, but not without some fun. Phil, with brown hair and dark brown eyes, every (straight or bisexual)girl’s dream on SCHS, had a smug smile on his face. And it’ll be a joy to rip it off.

“I thought we should come together sometimes, just you and I. I could take you to some nice place in my car. And then we could have some fun, I’ve heard that you’re worth the try.” The smugness caused her almost to vomit and she could swear she’d hear a snickering that sounded just like Zaris’ behind her.

“First,” her voice still sweet but with a glowing fire in her eyes, “I already said to you back off once and I’ll say it again. Maybe you’re not able to understand what I’m saying cause your ego is so big it has to occupy your brain and all vital organs, what makes dead and stink like a body preserved in marshland, but I’m not a woman that you can seduce with your obviously not existing charm. Where did you get this chat-up line? From a YouTube-tutorial for betas wanting to become alphas?”  
His face became red in embarrassment and indignation. But she wasn’t done yet. He was only interested in her because of her popularity. And besides that he once ditched Amaya back a year ago and like she thought earlier, nobody messes with her family. Time to pay the debts.  
“Second, I don’t know if you’ve heard about me driving quite good on my own and I’m definitely not impressed by the Mercedes that you steal your parents now and then to impress women. And third, I prefer women and now I remembered why. So please get out of my sight or I’ll have to puke right into your face.”  
All students around them fell in silence and Phil’s face was tomato-red, he looked like he’ll be exploding every second. But before this could happen, he scoffed and turned around, walking towards the safety of his little swarm of football players.  
“Oh, and don’t you dare to hurt one of my friends again!” She called after him, finally breaking out into laughter with her friends, giving a high five to Ray and a fistbump to Amaya.  
“You’ll regret this, Lance! See you at PE!” He yelled back to her, his voice filled with anger.

They all fell in light conversations until she went with Amaya, Nate, Zari, Ray and Nora to their PE lesson. After a quick warming up run and some stretching, they started with a repetition of the basics of boxing from the last lesson. How to throw the basic punches, how to dodge or block them and how to do some easy kicks.  
After that Mr Swan, their PE teacher showed them how to do some basic combos, like jab-cross-jab or jab-jab-cross. They trained a bit in pairs of two. Sara paired up with Nate, Zari was with Amaya and Ray and Nora trained together. It was quite funny to watch the letter smack Ray’s arm every time he was too hesitant or put too much power in his punch. Though she’d outrank them all in fighting it was fun to train with Nate. Every time they accidentally hit the other they fell into a delighting burst of laughter. And Sara taught Nate some new tricks, cause the next job will come their way and you couldn't be enough prepared in this business.

For the last 45 minutes, Swan split the group into beginners and advanced students. Obviously, Sara was with the advanced students, together with Amaya, she’d done Taekwon-Do almost her entire life, Nate, Alex and her sister Kara, Guinevere, Kyle, Patrick and Phil. That surprised Sara a bit but wasn’t unwelcome though. He shot her a glare.

They all did some sparring and after that a few quick fights. Sara, Alex, Amaya and Phil were the ones with the most wins and would now fight against each other. Luckily Amaya would be fighting against Alex and Sara against Phil. He looked a bit too eager for her thinking, but this wouldn’t last long. Not if she’d get the opportunity to change that.

Both of them take their positions. After a bit of cycling around each other, Phil threw the first easy jab-jab-cross combo. Sara dodged the attack by diving under the first two punches and blocking the right cross. She pushed his right fist to her left and turned slightly to her right to elbow him in his face. He managed to step behind but not enough to dodge her right elbow entirely, she hit his throat and made him cough.  
After all, it was only a sparring fight and Sara let him catch his breath. For a moment she gazed to Amaya and Alex, both breathing heavily and gauging each other's weaknesses in stepping forward, do some easy combos and going in defence mode again.  
Sara realized a second too late that Phil used her distraction to his advantage and couldn’t block the right hook, it hit her fully off guard. She stumbled back, catching her balance again, ready to block more incoming attacks. Phil used her unbalanced moment and came closer, trying to hit her with his left elbow and a right uppercut. Sara blocked the elbow but couldn’t block the uppercut and stepped back to get out of its range.  
Phil followed her, his lips in a smug grimace. This time Sara wouldn’t let him do the attack, she paced forward right into him, catching him off guard, and punched him with a fake jab to his head. He took the bait and pushed into the air when her expected jab didn’t hit him. Instead, she throws a right cross to his solar plexus, pushing the air out off his lungs, let him stumble backwards.

Sara wasn’t done yet, she followed his movements and gave him a left hook, while Phil was still stumbling backwards, trying to catch his balance again, he wasn’t able to block her punch and it hit him right on his right cheek. Wanting to end this right now, she kicked with her right foot. Her kick hit his left leg and took apart all balance that was left and with a loud Thudd he fell to the mat. The smugness in his face disappeared and a proud smile settled on Sara’s face. She went to Phil and held her hand for him to help him up, but he pushed it away and stood up on his own. One last time he glared at her with anger in his eyes and turned them away, walking to his friends.  
Sara shot him one last wink and moved to her friends. Their features were delighted and together they watched Amaya and Alex, still fighting. They’re definitely on a par with each other.

The last minutes of the lesson passed by quickly. They went to the locker room, PE was their last lesson for today and they all hit the shower. When they were ready to go, Zari, Amaya and Sara walked to the parking lot.

“Zari, have you talked to Snart about the next job already?”

“You mean the one in the ch…” Zari was cut off by Amaya.

“I don’t want to know about your criminal careers, ladies. Please don’t mention where you gonna do your robberies.” Amaya pinched her nose and sighed.

Amaya knew about the activities of the Legends since summer 2016 when Sara and Zari became friends with Amaya, Nate, Ray and Nora. Nate joined them now and then but the others wanted nothing to do with it. But none of them would testify against them. Sometimes Ray helped with technical equipment but nothing more. They all knew he’s a terrible liar.  
Amaya could understand what caused Zari and Sara to do this but doesn't want to know anything about it. She just accepted it.  
Nora for her part knows about them but doesn't want to join because of her father, precisely because of her mother. She died years ago during a gunfight between Darkh's organization and a revalorizing gang. Since then, Nora hated her father but couldn't help the police to build up a case against him, because she knew nothing about his business, only that her mother died because of him.

"Well, no, he hadn't talked to me yet, but I'm sure he will in the next days." Zari continued, avoiding to mention where they're going to do their next job.

"Okay, the potential buyer will confirm or deny during the next two days and then we'll work on a plan to get that damn thing."

Their jobs were normally initiated by Rip who got connections to some big business criminals. They got offers from different sources and passed them to Rip when their people weren't interested. The Legends never met any of these contacts but they seem to be serious and Rip trusted them so Sara never questioned his decisions. Often they got one main target, like the jewellery in the bank last weekend, but often they take away more things and sell them on the black market or dark web to one of Snart or Rip's contacts.  
The next expected job will be about a unique and very old statuette of Mother Teresa in a small catholic church on the outskirts of Star City.

Sara unlocked her top case and pulled out her helmet. She hugged Zari and Amaya and said them goodbye. When Zari and Amaya walked towards their cars, Zari called behind her, “Don’t get home too late today!” Her friend laughed and Sara could hear Amaya chuckle too.  
A smile settled on her face at the thought that she’ll see Ava in the next minutes. She felt her heart already warming and could smell the scent of her perfume.

Sara pulled over her black helmet and started the engine. She pulled her bike out of the parking space for motorcycles and waved to her friends when she drove past them. The way to Ava’s office wasn’t long, roundabout 15 minutes. The Star City High School was located in South Starling near the Triangle where the Glades, South Shore and Tesserville meet. The DA office building is at the City Core near Plymouth Park which is in the centre of the whole city. Sara used the road towards the west and at the eastern end of Tesserville then she took the highway straight to the park.

The freezing temperature was gone though it was still a little cold the sun was shining and her rays warmed Sara’s back. A light breeze played in her blonde hairs and made them tickle her neck. She thought of her plan for today, which hopefully includes Ava after her work and a delicious meal to dinner for both in her apartment like she promised last Saturday. Her mouth had still the smile on it and the warming from the sun in her body only increased when her mind went to what she wanted to do tonight.  
She prayed to whoever might hear it, that she wouldn't lose this chance to make something right, to become someone better with Ava by her side. Eventually, she would have to stop being a criminal, even if she pushed the fact away.  
Snart made clear that he wouldn't let either Zari, Nate or her become what they’d become. Criminals for their entire life. He, with support from Gideon and Rip and even Mick, wanted them to save some of their money for college and to become better persons with better lives than his own.  
Rip and Gideon only allowed them to work together because they know that they couldn’t stop them, especially Sara. When she met Mick and Leo, she was determined that she wanted to become like them, that she wanted this life full of crime and adrenalin.  
But the older she grows, the more she realized deep inside her that she doesn’t want this for her entire life and she stopped arguing against their agreement.

It wasn’t that she doesn't like what they did, it was fun and somehow fascinating, but even though her grades were bad she still deep down had the dream to become a doctor, specifically a surgeon. She already had the knife skills. Laurel and she often played, back, when they were kids, that Laurel was a lawyer and Sara a doctor. The dream still existed in her but she wasn’t ready to face this without her sister yet. Instead, she locked it down inside her with all the other feelings that were related with Laurel.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Sara parked her bike at the opposite of the high building in a small parking space and walked over to the doors. The glass doors opened automatically and slide out of her way. A few men in suits crossed her path without noticing her, their eyes glued on their phones. If she hadn’t had her quick reflexes she would’ve certainly run into them. They didn’t even seem to be aware of their almost accident.  
When she passed a crossing corridor she recognized she’d no clue where Ava’s office was. For a moment she took in her surroundings in hope to find some information. There was none, only a long desk with a young-looking man and an older woman behind it. Without hesitation, she crossed the long hall and made her way towards it. When she stood right in front of it, she waited a moment but nothing happened. The old woman seemed to write something in an organizer and the man played a game on his phone, according to the sounds from the same.  
She cleared her throat as loud as she could. Finally, the woman looked up, over the glasses of her horn-rimmed spectacles. Her face was completely nonchalant and she lifted her left eyebrow like she wanted to say “Aren’t you too young to be here?”

“Hi, I’m looking for DA Ava Sharpe’s office. Could you give me the direction?” Sara tried to sound friendly though she already was a little annoyed by the look the woman gave her.

She sighed and just started to say something when a man appeared on Sara’s left, his mouth in a wide slight creepy smile that looked like he was either on drugs or about to become a psychopathic serial killer or both. It was like the next generation of Nate’s excitement.

“You’re Sara Lance, aren’t you?” His eyes were filled with a strange glow Sara couldn't place.  
The woman in front of her turned her head back down to her organizer. It caused Sara to roll her eyes and she turned fully towards the man to he left. He wore a navy blue suit with a tie in the same colour and black glasses. His slightly curled black hair had been combed back. This man looked like the most average person Sara had ever met.

“Yes.” It was more a question than an answer because she couldn’t remember that she’d seen him at least once. But his voice sounded familiar.

“I’m Gary Green, but call me just Gary. We talked on the phone at the weekend.” It hit her, he was the bone structure guy. The one she was talking to when Stephanie had to work again.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I’m on my up way to Ava’s office, I’ll show you the way.” He guided her to the stairs and Sara wondered how he knows how she looked. This guy was truly creepy. But he seemed not to be a threat, it would surprise her if he could hold a knife in his hands without cutting himself at least once. The thought made her grin.  
When they hit the first floor, he started to talk about Ava having a meeting now with the police, but according to him, it’ll end in the next ten minutes.

“Oh, you must wonder how I recognized you downstairs.” Yeah, she was wondering, but she got a slight idea how he’d know that. “After we talked on the phone I looked you up on Instagram.” He was a creep and her theory was proven right. “You and Ava seem to be something more serious and I’m a passionate shipper.” His smile grew wider. “You two are already so cute.”  
The strange glow in his eyes intensified. Thankfully Sara could see the nameplate with District Attorney Ava Sharp on the office door. Gary seems to beg everyone to find him bizarre and to make sure he was the creepiest person they’ve ever met but somehow it was adorable but in a really exceptional way.  
They passed the office door and before Gary could increase his level of strangeness, a small woman paced to them nearly knocking over an orchid on the edge of her presumed desk. This must probably be Stephanie, Ava’s assistant. Although she seemed to be a bit stressed Sara could see the kind person behind it that she get to know on the telephone.  
With her light brown hair in a messy bun, her eyes wide and the stressed look in them she looked like she had overdose caffeine running through her blood.  
Stephanie held her forefinger on her mouth, indicating them to be silent.

“Shhhh. She and Captain Pike talking about the Darkh-case.” She whispered to them and now Sara could hear voices from the office at the end of the room. A female voice, she recognized as Ava’s, and a deeper male voice, which she instantly identified as captain Pikes’. Her whole body stiffed and she had to inhale slow deep breaths to demand her muscles to relax. None of the two others seems to notice it. Sara briefly closed her eyes and opened them again, then followed what she could hear from the other room.

“...no evidence for his involvement,” came from Pike.

“This can’t be! On our last meeting, you’ve assured me that we get witnesses and according to them they’d seen him and his men at the crime scene.” She heard a deep sigh from Ava.

“Yeah, but they refuse to testimony now. I’m sure he threatened them, but they all deny the help we offer with witness protection. It’s like the last times.”

“I think we're done here then, no witnesses, no shreds of evidence, no case. We don't even know his real name.” Sara could hear Ava laugh dryly.

“I’m sorry, Miss Sharpe.”

“It’s not your fault that this son of a bitch is a ghost. Please just call me when you got something new.”

“I’ll do.”

They could hear them coming closer to the door. Quickly Stephanie walked back to her desk and busied herself with work, Gary looked at frames on the wall. Certificates from Ava’s graduation at law school presumably. And Sara stood there in the middle of the room, don’t know what to do.  
The door opened and the police captain and Ava walked out. They both stopped when they became aware of Sara standing in the room.

“Sara?” Both said simultaneously, then looking at each other.

“You know her?” Ava said while Pike asked, again at the same time, “She got in trouble again?” Both chuckled slightly.

“Hi,” the smaller blonde said, shifting from one foot to the other at Pikes’ assumption. Ava shot Pike a curious look, then one to Sara when her brain processed the information she just got. Sara could feel her body get stressed, she started sweating, fearing what Ava might think now. But she seems to drop it cause the look disappeared, instead, her lips turned into a fond smile. Delighted by her appearance, Sara hoped.

“Well, I got my next appointment in a few minutes. I have to go. Wish you a wonderful day Miss Sharpe.” He shook the hand Ava was holding out to him. Then he walked towards the door behind Sara but stopped beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder. On his face was a friendly smile, but she couldn’t stop her muscles from flexing.

“Do me a favour and send your father my greetings, will you?”

“Yeah.” She knows it was a lie, but was she supposed to say no and explain why she couldn’t do that? It was none of his business anyway.

“Great, see you hopefully not so soon.” He winked and left the office. Sara managed a small fake smile, but it left as soon as he closed the door behind him. Her body relaxed. Her mind associated his voice still with the day they got the information that Laurel died the night before. When Pike had ringed the fateful bell at their house and delivered the message personally.

“What do you do here?” Ava’s voice was soft and sounded fondly in Sara’s ears. Her lips turned into a smile, a real one.

“Well, I wanted to see this beautiful woman from Saturday again.” She let her voice sound teasing and lifted her right eyebrow. She saw how Ava blushed, which made her smirk. She was absolutely going to kiss her.  
Then Sara heard Stephanie clear her throat, it couldn’t be Gary, because he was smiling his overexcited wide smile and unless he’s an alien Sara couldn’t think of a way that he could clear his throat and smiling this wide at the same time.  
Stephanie’s interruption let Ava look sheepishly to her shoes and then back up again. Her gaze met Sara’s and both smiled at each other.

“I think we should go to my office.” The taller blonde gestured behind her, where she’d been earlier with Pike. Sara nodded and had to bite back a smile. She got a strong feeling that Ava made her more smiling the more she looked at her.  
Both of them made their way to the door and behind her, Sara heard Stephanie say, “No, not you Gary. Remember about what Ava talked about to you earlier. Personal space, man.”

Ava shut the door behind them and turned then around to Sara. She stepped forward and hugged her tight. “I’m glad Gary hadn’t scared you away already.” Sara chuckled.

“No, he IS creepy, but I think he’s more like an innocent puppy. A threat to nobody.” This time it made Ava giggle and Sara realized how much she missed this.

“You’re right. But I’m assuming that you’re not here to talk about my strange colleague, are you?” A smile appeared at Ava’s features and while she bites her lip she looked up under her lashes, framed by her loose curly hair, doing things to Sara. Her gaze fell to Ava’s soft-looking lips.

“No, I’m not.” She sounded a bit hoarse.

“Then why are you here?” Ava took a step forward, almost in Sara’s personal space.

“Because I wanted to see you again.” Sara had to look up to Ava and somehow she found that incredibly sexy.

“Yeah?” Now Ava’s voice was the hoarse one, only amplifying the things she made Sara feel. The taller blonde took another step to her.

“Yeah.” Now Sara took a step closer, their faces inches apart. She could feel Ava leaning in and Sara was about to do the same. A brief moment before their lips met, the door opened and she could hear Gary’s over-amused voice.

“Would you like to have some coffee?” From behind she heard an angry Stephanie calling for him and Sara would swear she heard Ava gritting her teeth. She fully understood why. She could slice his throat and make sausages out of his own gut for what he’d just interrupted.

“GARY! PRIVACY! YOU KNOW THAT WORD?” Stephanie yelled when she pulled him back, into her office. She mothed Sorry and closed the door.

Ava sighed and let a dry laugh out.  
“Sometimes I wonder why I haven't fired him yet.”

“There must be some reason why you gave him the job.”

“Well, he’s good with office stuff, he’s loyal and he does literally everything you ask him to.” She snickered.

“You see? He’s a kind of adorable dork with a crush on you.”

“Let me remind you that you were here on a purpose, and it was not to talk about Gary.” Ava changed the topic and her features turned once again into a kinky smile. Sara had to bite back a smirk.

“No, actually I was here to ask you out again. Even if I theoretically have done it back on Saturday but I thought I could steal you from work and persuade you to have dinner with me at my apartment.” Sara smiled warmly at Ava, hoping that the letter would agree.

“Oh, I’d love to…”

“I hear a 'but' coming?” A hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I’ve two appointments left and then dinner with Mayor Pollard.” Ava sounded genuinely sorry, but Sara couldn’t suppress the pout on her lips. “But I’ve no late appointments on Wednesday, so…”  
“Wednesday is it then?” The smile came back to her mouth, washing the disappointment away, and she got already butterflies in her stomach at the thought of having Ava in her apartment.

“Yeah. Around six pm?”

“I think you just said that you got no late appointments?” Sara smirked at the taller blonde.

“Yeah, but I want to look good, make an impression.” Ava looked somehow shy but at the same time a little challenging.

“Oh, you already made one and I think I don’t want to change it. But six is good for me. I’ll pick you up.”

“You know, I’m able to drive a car.” She tilted her head to her left side and looked curious at Sara.

“I assumed so, but first, my apartment is in the Glades and I don’t like the thought of you in potential danger out there. And second I like to pick up pretty girls and drive them around.” Sara shot Ava a wink and smirked at her.

“So I’m not the first one?” Ava’s voice was challenging.

“Well, you’re the not the first, but still the most attractive. And that means something.” Sara gave Ava a once-over and smirked even wider. Eager to find out how Ava’s skin might feel on her own.

“Okay, then you at six at my house,” Ava smirked back, something in her eyes that the smaller blonde couldn’t place, but it looked like fire. Sara took a step closer to Ava, into her space and pushed herself up to her toes to reach the taller blondes ear.

“I’m looking forward to it.” She said hoarsely in her ear, could feel the shiver rushing down Ava’s spine. She kissed the letter on her cheek, turned around and walked to the door. The captain made sure her hips swing more than normal. Leaving Ava blushing behind her, with a dumbass smile on her face. A happy one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, let me know if you've enjoyed the chapter! :)
> 
> For the description of Star City, I took this map as an [example](https://pre00.deviantart.net/a594/th/pre/f/2018/066/4/0/star_city_by_roysovitch-dc59q2n.jpg) (There's no map of earth-1 SC, none that I find during my research)
> 
> I'm still trying to find my writing style and try to improve my skills, especially in describing situations or feelings. It's always difficult to describe them to me ._.  
> If you've pieces of advice for me, I'm eager to hear them!
> 
> The story of a teacher threatening the school with a lawsuit is a real one XD It happened to the school of a friend of mine. His teacher threatened the school and they gave in. His reason for not going in retire was that when he'll go he had to endure his wife all day and she would let him mow the grass the entire day lol.
> 
> The conspiracy theory about Nazi's landing on the dark side of the moon is one of my favourite theories, along with the theory in which Hitler had only one testicle xD How could people believe that? (The secret moon base, not the testicle^^)
> 
> Hope you guys have a wonderful day and a relaxed week ;) Next chapter dating!Avalance ;)


	6. Something Worth Waiting For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends have breakfast before school and there is some fighting over a donut. Also, Ava and Sara are on their second date in Sara's apartment. But things aren't going as expected and Ava comforts Sara when the letter has another nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you all had a nice week. For me, it started with a little writing crisis. I had problems with starting this chapter and that's why it took me longer than expected to update. Also, it was because of this expected 4k-5k chapter turned into 12k monster to write and edit xD And I haven't even written everything that was on my plan, these things will come up in the next chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this one, I'm eager to hear your feedback! And thanks for all your comments so far, they're really motivating! :D It's nice to see you like my work :)

Finally, Tuesday was over and today was the day she'll meet Ava again. It was a good day though Sara woke up in the morning after another nightmare. They haunted her regularly but over the years she’d come around with it. Sometimes they could still get under her shell, especially when they’re like the one she had on Monday this week, but normally she was able to bury them easier inside her and put them in a little box, deep down in her subconscious.  
Deep inside Sara knows, this coping mechanism couldn’t help her forgiving herself or reappraise her past, but first, she still doesn’t feel ready to face her mistakes and guilt yet. And second, she was afraid of losing her sister again when she would work up all she had been through because now Laurel was with her in everything Sara does. Even if it was torturing her mind, imagining her watching Sara's actions and imagining the despise Laurel with which she would look at her, how she would judge her, but at least this was better than not feeling her sister with her every time. Otherwise, Sara would have to deal with even greater loss and would completely feel alone, inside her a void that no one, even her friends couldn’t fill.

She puts her nightmare to the others and got up from her bed. School today started later and she would meet Amaya, Zari and Nora in the Wildcat Gym where Amaya works in her free time, teaching Taekwondo and Krav Maga. Since every Wednesday school started later than regular, working out before the classes started, became a routine for the girls. As same as after going to the gym, meeting the boys in their favourite diner to have breakfast together and then driving to school.

“You nervous about tonight?” Amaya asked Sara while the letter took a bite from her still warm cheese sandwich.  
Nora was busy with smacking Ray’s arm because he had forgotten about their date night next Friday and just accepted Nates offer to come over and help him with some physics tasks.  
Nate’s father wanted him to take additional physic classes even if Nate was way more interested in history, but he seems to ignore that and let his son do what he wants him to do.

A light chuckle escaped Sara’s mouth when Ray rubbed his arm and her gaze fell to Amaya who was still expecting an answer to her question, as well as Zari, her mouth forming a provoking smile and a cocky raised eyebrow, waiting for Sara to answer so she could go on whatever the letter was going to say. She ignored her best friend and addressed Amaya.

“Yeah a bit, I think my last second date was with Lindsay, the nurse in the psychiatry.”

“Wow, that was literally ages ago.” Zari sat beside Sara and looked genuinely shocked. “Thought you as proficient womanizer would have more second dates.” Her lips had a smug grin on it. Sara rolled her eyes while Amaya ignored her girlfriend.

Besides that Sara was nervous, more like she would like to admit, and full of anticipation but way more nervous than she should be right now. Probably Ava would be calm because Sara couldn’t think of a reason why Ava wouldn’t have dates every time judging by her gorgeous appearance and it would be nothing special or new about that for her. But even if Sara could watch back to an impressive number of hookups she had in the past, she was now nervous like a teenager before his or her first date. Even if she was technically still a teenager, but actually she had nothing to fear of, this wasn’t her first time she had a second date.

“So what have you planned for tonight?” Amaya asked she tilted her head a bit and Sara could see the curiosity in her features.

“I have to hit the grocery store later and buy things for lasagna. It’s great for dates actually, no long time needed for preparation, easy to cook and when it’s in the oven you can use the waiting time to complete your plans. This tactic worked real...”

“Gross. You know you are disgusting, right?” Zari interrupted Sara with a nauseated looking face. “Now I can’t ever eat lasagna again without vomiting right into your face.” She pulled her head up slightly and pressed her lips together. “Wait… Now that I’m thinking of this, maybe I should come over and do right that.” The smugness reappeared in Zari’s features while Sara kicked her best friends shin with her foot, causing the letter to snicker.

“Sometimes I genuinely hate you,” said Sara while Zari tried to take a bite from her donut but Amaya took it away from her and threw it over to Nate who watched the three in amusement, but now his eyes became wide.

“No dinut for you today.” And a giggle came out of her mouth when Zari’s eyes became small and she death-glared at Nate, threatening him without words to gave her her donut back. Nate’s face turned pale and brain-lost as he was in the moment, he tossed the donut to his left where Ray was sitting next to him. He caught it and looked startled when Zari’s glare fell to him, causing him to throw it back to Zari but Sara was quicker and catches it in the air.  
Zari tried to reach her donut with her arms but Sara could block them with her left arm and took a big bite from the donut, which was now halved. Then she gave Zari the rest and started to laugh heartily.

“She’d done it. No one ever has dared to do that before.” Nate’s mouth gaped, he gave Ray a look and swallowed.

Amaya and Nora joined her when they gained a look at Zari’s pale face, an infuriated fire in her eyes and her lips pressed together to a thin line. Ray and Nate grabbed each other's arms and looked somewhat scared. Sara, who hadn’t swallowed the donut entirely yet, started to cough but wasn’t able to stop laughing. After a sip of her drink, which she was close to splutter out, the cough eased. Nora and Amaya were still laughing and Sara couldn’t stop chuckling yet. The death-glare Zari gave her only increased her enjoyment for this situation.

“I wish you all die on your next donut.” The composure and determination with what Zari said it was almost creepy. It made Nate and Ray lean as wide back as they could and hugging each other tightly, panic written in their faces. Nora who stopped laughing seems to be now annoyed by the two boys and rolled her eyes over them. Amaya was still giggling and hugged her girlfriend from the side.

“We love you too.” She hugged her girlfriend even tighter and placed a kiss on her cheek.

Zari was still glaring at Sara who blew her a kiss and winked to her. Her best friend rolled her eyes and inhaled the rest of her donut before someone could steal it away from her again.

“Nobody messes with my donut ever again or I will find this person, skin him and make a bag out of the skin for my future donuts.”

“You know, sometimes I’m genuinely scared of you, Z,” Nate said.

“You wouldn’t honestly consider this, would you?” Ray asked a bit hesitant, doubt in his voice.

“Oh, I would,” Zari answered deadpan and beside her Amaya and Sara started chuckling again because of Ray's pale face and swallowing Nate. Nora rolled her eyes again and pinched her nose. Sometimes the boys were quite adorable when they were scared of either of the girls.

"Alright, changing topic." Sara clapped her hands together, distracting Zari who still glared at Ray and Nate, both couldn't take their widened eyes off her. "Party, next weekend. Who are we gonna invite?"

"Oh please say you bring Ava!" Nate couldn't hold back his excitement, abruptly the look of alarm in his eyes blown away. Neither could Sara hold back an eye roll. This lovable goof shot right on the thing Sara wanted to avoid.

"Oh no, please God. No! I would've to puke the entire night." Zari sighed annoyed and pulled her head back in her head.

"I'll see, I don't want you to scare her away." She spun her head to Zari and shot her a played glare, afterwards winking to the boys. Sara enjoyed the bickering with Zari every day, it was their thing, their way of showing love for each other, their thing of helping each other with feelings and the things that were going on.

"I think it's unnecessary to say that we invite Mick, Snart, Gideon and Rip." Nate continued. 

"Yeah and I also thought about Barry, Iris and their crew, as well as Felicity, Kara and Alex, but please nobody mention our one nightstand when I bring Ava. Looking at you two, Ray and Z." She gave them both a meaningful look. But before either of them said anything, Amaya caught Sara’s eye and smiled at her a knowing smile.

"So you bring Ava then?"

"Please, Sara!" came from Ray.

"We're eager to get to know her, come on, Cap," said Nate, supporting his friend. 

Sara couldn’t hold back a little smile. It was cute how her friends try to corner and dragging her to bring Ava. She sighed to hide her smile, "Alright, I'll ask her."

"Yes!" Ray and Nate said simultaneously and gave each other a high five.

After all of them finished their breakfast, Sara and Zari took both a coffee for school. Sara ordered her favourite, a brewed coffee with espresso in it, named The Flash. Zari ordered the same but with a double espresso in it.

“Someday you will die because of a caffeine overdose.” Sara giggled lightly while she and Zari waited until Megan, the barista, finished their orders.  
Every Wednesday when the Legends come here to have breakfast before school, Megan had her shift. It was about a year ago, that they were both drunk at the same party and had slept together. For Sara, it was nothing serious, only a one-time-thing but recently Megan started to shot her flirtatious smiles and sometimes winked at her when Sara’s gaze fell to the brown-haired woman. Sara often took the bait willingly and they both had some light flirting whenever Sara ordered something. It became their little game, nothing serious.

“Someday you will die because of all the diseases you gathered while sleeping with the entire world,” countered Zari, looking at Sara while the letter shot Megan a wink when she gave them their drinks.

Sara turned her cup around and was confronted with something, that looked like Megan’s telephone number. Zari looked curious to her friend and then back to Megan, who smiled. Sara looked back as well and smiled a small smile to the young woman. But it was not her regular I’m gonna call you and then we sleep together-smile. It was more like a Sorry, this won’t happen-smile, something Zari couldn’t remember to have ever seen on Sara’s face.

“You not gonna add her to your list?” Zari asked Sara, already assuming what had changed inside her friend's mind. Sara leaned in so she could whisper to her.

“First, we already had sex,” Zari grimaced, “second, I’m not interested anymore.”

Zari’s mouth turned from the grimace into a grin. “You really want to make this right, do you?”  
The two girls stepped through the glass door and walked to the parking lot where their friends were waiting for them.

“Well, something about Ava feels special, I haven’t felt like this in a long time.” Sara’s eyes fell to her feet.

“Then I’m genuinely glad for you, Sara. You deserve someone that makes you happy.”

Sara looked up and met Zari’s gaze who smiled at her, Sara smiled back and could see the honesty in her eyes. “Thank you, this means a lot.”

“But please, when she comes to the party, don’t make out too much.” The annoyed Zari was back again and Sara couldn’t hold back a laugh. She swung her left arm around her best friends neck.  
They arrived at the parking lot and met the rest of the Legends. All of them took their cars or in Sara’s case her bike and headed to school. Amaya was with Zari this time because she had slept at her apartment and was going to come there again after school so she had left her car at their place and drove with her girlfriend.

It was only a five-minute ride to Star City High school and after they arrived, they split up to get to their classes. Sara had now biology with Caitlin, Amaya and Nate. The classes passed by and nothing unusual happened. Sara zoned out in classes, not caring about what the teacher had to say to them. But this time she wasn’t thinking of the nightmare she had last night, instead, her mind was in the orbit around planet Ava again. Lunch was funny as ever and filled with party plans for Friday next week. And in the last two classes again, Sara could only think about how the evening will be with Ava.

She could feel the nervousness increase and the anticipation became bigger. She imagined how Ava may look like and every picture her mind created was absolutely stunning, especially when her mind decided to picture Ava without any outfit. Sara had to bite back countless smiles during class and earned a few looks from Amaya who was sitting next to her.

The last lesson passed by and Sara couldn’t wait to get out of school, get on her bike and drive to the grocery store. She quickly gathered her stuff from the table, tossed the things inside her bag and waited for her friends at the door to get ready to leave.  
When the Legends met in the parking lot by their cars, they shared all hugs and said their goodbyes.

“Good luck for later.” Amaya shot her a wink and Sara smiled in response.

“Yeah, you got your girl, Cap,” said Nate and gave her a fistbump. Ray hugged her again, tightly and wished her good luck as well. Nora just stood there and nodded reassuring to Sara, then rolling her eyes over her boyfriend.  
Then Sara stepped to her bike, which parked between Nate’s and Zari’s car. She put her helmet on and while she closed her black leather jacket, then Zari bumped her right shoulder.

“Make sure to wear protection and don’t be too loud!” The annoyance in her voice made Sara chuckle. She gets on her bike and started it, the engine began to rumble underneath her.

She drove out of the parking lot and pulled her bike on the street. The wind played in her hair and she could feel the speed when she overtook three cars that were now driving behind her.

After a five-minute drive to her favourite grocery store in the Glades, she parked her bike in the small parking lot and locked her helmet in her top case. She came out fifteen minutes later with all the things she needed for the lasagna and some more stuff that were on her list anyway.

It took her five more minutes to drive home to her apartment and when she parked her bike in the parking lot nearby, she saw Zari’s car parking next to Amaya’s. She smiled, every time she saw this or the two together she realized how happy she felt for her best friend, that she had Amaya as her girlfriend.

Many people would say that both of them were too different to have a relationship but it was right this that let them match so perfectly like they were cut out for each other. Besides that Amaya was always there for Zari, especially when the case about her dead parents came up again last year.

A cop had shot them both during a gunfight between the Los Halcones and the police nine years ago. Unfortunately, her parents were right there in the street, on their way back from the drug store, and when they tried to escape, the cop shot them in their backs. He must have assumed that they were gang members and armed, so he wanted to stop them. This horrible mistake that he made left Zari with her little brother alone. He lived now with their grandparents, so Zari could focus on high school.  
But when said cop came out of prison earlier than he was sentenced to, he tried to find new pieces of evidence about Zari’s parents being armed. Thankfully he found none but this trauma being rolled up again, brought Amaya and Zari closer together and in the end, they began to develop feelings for each other.  
It wasn’t that Sara hadn’t been there for Zari, but both of them know that Amaya was way better with this whole feelings-thing than the two of them.

It made Sara glad to see how Zari was able to laugh again when the two got together and she remembered how she buried the wish for a relationship like theirs inside her. But maybe the time has come to release this wish out of its cage in the back of her mind and let it try to become true.

While Sara walked across the street and around the corner where their apartments where she passed Jimmy. He was an older homeless man, who had his little tent under the bridge above them. He greeted her and she waved to him in response. Sara stopped for a moment and rummaged her bag with the groceries from earlier.  
After a short moment, she found what she had searched for and gave him two chocolate bars. His favourite brand. He smiled warmly and thanked her, then she started to walk again. Her thoughts went to the first time they met.

It was the first time she ran away from home after Laurel died and even if it was summer, the night outside was cold, especially the wind. She was only dressed in a light tee-shirt and shorts. He had a barrel with fire and Sara, young and oblivious as she was, had asked him if she could join him and sit by the fire to warm herself up. Back then she hadn’t thought of the danger she could’ve get herself into, even if she was a skilled martial artist.  
Thankfully Jimmy was nice and had done nothing harm to her. And while he had let her sit next to him by the barrel, she shared the foot with him that she had bought earlier.  
Whenever Sara ran away from home again, he gave her shelter and sometimes now, when the weather was freezing outside or a storm let the world going down under, she opened the door to the building for him, so he was safe inside and wouldn’t have to freeze outside.

The old story put a smile on her face and she arrived on the building with her apartment. She took the stairs, the elevator was broken anyway. The captain reached her apartment door and unlocked it.  
Instantly she inhaled a deep breath and took in the familiar smell of her home. The only place where she felt entirely safe in the world. Like nothing could ever get into or invade it. The only place where her senses could calm down from permanently subconscious alarm mode.

She stripped off her jacket and her boots, then walked to the kitchen and stored the vegetables and ingredients for the lasagna in the fridge. Afterwards, Sara collected the dirty dishes from the kitchen unit and the dining table on the other side of the room. When she finished sorting them into her dishwasher, the captain began to pick up the clothes lying on the ground. With her arm full of clothes, she kicked her bath door open and managed to open the laundry basket with her right foot. She let the clothes fall into the basket and closed it when her hands weren’t occupied with laundry anymore.

When she re-entered the open room, Sara picked up her phone and started a playlist on Spotify with several love songs in it to get into a more romantic mood and also to calm her nerves down, which were all around this evening. The nervousness from earlier this day increased with every passing moment and she could feel her hands get a little shaky whenever she thought of Ava and how she may look like.  
It was ridiculous, normally Sara would be calm and cheeky, not flustered at all. She would drive the other person crazy with being relaxed and teasing and would make her flush. Sara would just sit there, nipping on her drink.  
But this time it seems to be quite different, Sara herself felt different. Ava wasn’t even here yet, but every time Sara tried to calm her nerves, the taller blonde appeared in her head, stunning as ever and destroyed the thoughts Sara tried to bring in order in her mind.  
She had an idea. Maybe a shower would help to get her thoughts together and to focus on what she would wear later.

The captain, standing in front of one of her couches, started moving across the room until she passed the wall that separated the area where her bed was from the rest of the open apartment. She stripped off the rest of her clothes and walked to her closet, opened it and pulled out new underwear. Something more tempting this time.  
The thought of Ava stripping off Sara’s clothes until nothing was left popped up in her head and Sara could feel a familiar heat rushing through her body, the picture let her mouth form a smirk.

Sara walked back into the open and entered her bathroom. She stepped into the shower and let the cold water stream down her warm body. Thousands of small droplets trailed down her skin and eventually, her mind calmed down, settling into the moment. She pulled her head into her neck. Now the cold streamed down her entire face and washed away the nervousness.  
It was now that she realized that her muscles were tensed and it was now that she could feel the tension being washed away. Her muscles relaxed and her shoulders sank. She stopped the water and massaged the shampoo in her hair. And with every stroke through her hair the smile and with it, the anticipation for her second date with that incredible woman became wider and bigger. She couldn’t wait to see her again. It felt almost like she missed her.

After using shampoo and shower gel, she enjoyed a little longer the water running down her body. Eventually, she stopped the shower and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a fluffy black towel. She dried her dripping hair with a smaller one and used her hairdryer. When her hair was almost dry, she dried the rest of her still damp body. After putting on the underwear, the captain walked back to her closet and opened the doors.

She pulled out a few things, a deep-red tank top, a grey hoodie, a blue shirt made of silk and a longsleeved dark-grey shirt. Her head thinking about which of these would be the best choice to wear in combination with the black jeans she had in mind for tonight. Several moments passed without a choice she had made. Maybe she needed some advice.

Sara picked up her phone from her bed, unlocked it and tipped a quick message.

**You:** Come over.

**Z:** Why? 

**You:** Need your help.

**Z:** U need MY help? 

**Z:** We’ll be there in 5 ;) - A 

Sara chuckled waited for the two to come over. As Amaya said, five minutes later her apartment door opened and a grumpy looking Zari entered with her girlfriend.

"You know, you pulled me right of my win streak in Overwatch. This should better be a real emergency,” murmured Zari. The three girls walked to Sara’s bed.

“I need help with my outfit.” Sara sighed. “It has to be casual but still seducing and I just don’t know what to wear!” Zari rolled with her eyes and made herself comfortable on her bed.

“We’re eager to help you.” Amaya winked at her girlfriend.

“Sometimes I really wish I was dead,” replied Zari deadpan, picked up Sara’s phone and changed the romantic music into something that sounded more like metal.

“Okay, is that what you had in mind? With which trousers?” Amaya pointed to the clothes lying on the bed.

“Yeah, and I thought of the black jeans.”

“Great choice, your ass looks unbelievable in it.” Zari’s voices dripped in sarcasm and Amaya smacked her shoulder.

“If you promise to behave, I tell you where I hide my sorry-donuts for the one from this morning.”

“Fine.” Sara could see how Zari tried to hide the excitement about her absolute favourite food, but she knows her best friend wasn’t truly hiding it. She couldn’t just give in easy. It made Sara snicker anyway.

“They’re in the fridge,” Sara called after Zar, who jumped already out of the bed and sprinted to the kitchen across the room.

“Okay, now focus. I think you should take this one.” Amaya pointed with her index finger to the tank top and Sara thought a moment. “Your arms will look great in it and you are the person with the most presentable arms I know.” She wasn’t wrong though.

Zari re-entered the separated area, chewing a donut and holding three others in her other hand. The view made Amaya as well as Sara chuckle while Zari just threw herself onto Sara’s bed again.

Sara looked again at the tank top, picturing how it may look in combination with her jeans. It should work. “I’ll take it. Thanks, Amaya.” She smiled at her friend and earned a warm smile in response.

After Sara had packed the other clothes away, she, Amaya and Zari sat down in her little couch area. She had another hour to spend before she would leave her apartment to pick up Ava from her house. They just chatted a bit, gathering new information about the gossip in the high school, when the flustered feeling inside Sara came up again. Amaya must have noticed a change in Sara’s features.

“You okay?” She asked with a bit of concern in her voice but the smile on her lips let Sara assume that her friend had already an idea.

“Yeah, I’m just a bit… nervous.”

“Oh, you don’t have to be, Sara.” Amaya put a hand on Sara’s back. Zari was still eating one of her donuts.

“I know, but somehow Ava already feels different to me. This isn’t like it was with Nyssa. It’s scary and new to me.”

“Maybe she feels different because she is different and your feelings for her are different. Like Nora said on Monday, you look happy and carefree. Not entirely though, but I cannot think of a time when you were smiling while you were zoned out in school, normally you have this haunted look in your eyes. And especially when it’s new to you it has to be scary. This means you doing something that might change you, that will make things different but in a positive way.”

“Why are you always this wise?” Sometimes Amaya’s wisdom was almost annoying but it was never failing to be reassuring, to make things less scary.

“Someone in our group has to be.” Amaya shrugged and started laughed, Sara joined her, even Zari chuckled and began to cough because of her mouth full of donut. It made the other girls even more laughing.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

The last hour went by quick and after Amaya and Zari left her apartment, Sara closed her eyes firmly, inhaling a deep breath, bracing herself for the feelings that might follow after this night. She was eager to discover them, even if it was scary as hell.

She changed her sweatpants and tee-shirt into the black jeans and the deep-red tank top. Around her neck lies the necklace that Laurel gave her before she went to law school. She inhaled another deep breath, pushing the up-creeping darkness inside her away. And before she could think further about Laurel, she picked up her leather jacket, opened her apartment door, walked outside and locked it.  
She nearly jumped down the stairs, the anticipation became higher and higher. She passed Jimmy’s tent and waved quick towards him, then pulled out her helmet and put it on while she gets on her bike. Starting the engine.

When she pulled her bike onto the freeway that leads across the city, right through the city core, Sara had to inhale several breaths to calm her pounding heart down. She increased the speed and cars passed by more quickly. After a fifteen-minute ride, she left the freeway and pulled her bike into the neighbourhood where Ava’s house was located.

Like the last time, she parked her bike on the other side of the road and hung her helmet over the rear mirror on her bike. The captain inhaled a last deep breath, grounding herself and calming her nerves down.

She walked over and pressed the bell. The few moments that passed felt like an eternity to Sara. Finally, she was released by Ava who opened the door. The smaller blondes heart skipped a beat when the taller blonde came into Sara’s view. It took her a bit to take the woman full in, distracted by her lips.

Ava wore dark-blue jeans, a white silk shirt and a brown leather jacket above. Her hair again in loose curls, like the last time. But the only thing Sara could think of was how her fingers would feel in Ava’s hair, how it would feel to stroke through the curls. Her mouth gaped slightly and she couldn’t think of something to say.

“I-... You look… Well, you look absolutely beautiful.” Sara stammered and the way Ava tilted her head down and looked up again with her breathtaking eyes fixed on Saras’, she could feel the familiar heat starting to rise inside her again.

“Thank you.” Ava’s voice was soft when she finally found it. “You too.” She had to bite back a smile and Sara smiled warmly in response. A moment passed by with them both staring at each other.

“Should we..?” Sara gestured back to her bike and when Ava nodded, Sara took Ava’s hand and pulled her to the bike. She pulled out the spare helmet, gave it to Ava and put on her own. The smaller blonde sat on the bike first, then gestured to the taller blonde to get up as well. When both women were sitting on the bike, Sara started the engine and felt the familiar rumbling underneath her. It eased her increasing heart rate a little. when she felt Ava leaning against her back.

Like the last time, Sara could tell that Ava was leaning in more than necessary but like the last time, she doesn’t mind. The warmth on her back felt already familiar to her. This time the ride lasted a bit longer than before. And after twenty minutes Sara pulled her bike into the parking lot near her apartment and locked both helmets.

It was beginning to get dark outside and Sara’s senses increased their sensitiveness. She took Ava’s hand again and walked quickly to her building. Even if she was a skilled fighter, she wasn’t by herself and she wasn’t eager to let this date end either on a police station or a hospital.

They passed Jimmy’s tent and Sara caught the wink he gave her, she gave him a small smile in response. Ava shot her a curious look.

“You know him?”

“A little, he helped me when I ran away from home,” she said, not thinking about what information she just shared with Ava. Her mind was busy searching for threats. Ava seemed to thought for a moment, presumably about asking Sara why she would run away from home. Another moment in silence passed, their hands still enlaced.

“Why did you run away from home? You don’t have to answer, it’s not really one of my business.”

“No, no. It’s okay.” Sara didn’t mind though. This was something she could talk about with Ava, nothing like her work as a criminal. “I started to run away when my mother left.” Sara tried to answer nonchalantly but a small tremor in her voice was hearable. Maybe Ava hasn’t noticed.

"You... You wanna talk about it?" Ava seemed to be hesitant about asking Sara about her past. Not wanting to cross any lines. Understandable though, technically they still barely know each other but for some reason, it was easy to talk to her.

"She left after some family shit happened." Sara just shrugged it off and thankfully Ava stopped asking questions. She wasn't so eager to crash this date with her shitty past and her story about her dead sister. It wasn't a good icebreaker.  
The smaller blonde wanted to have a beautiful relaxed evening with Ava and being pulled back into her past wasn't something she was comfortable with. At some point, she would have to tell her about Laurel and her dad. And eventually about the Legends and their criminal history too. But hopefully, until this day would come, Sara would be out of this business for a long time.

"I'm sorry, Sara. I don’t mean to cross a line…" Ava started but Sara cut her off. 

"No, you haven't. It's not just my favourite topic to talk about when I'm going to have a date with a very attractive woman in my apartment." She shot Ava a wink and on her lips appeared her trademark smirk.  
Ava's tensed shoulders eased and began to smirk back at Sara.

"So maybe we should go in there and see where this night is gonna take us." Ava nodded towards the door from the building and then locked her eyes with Sara's. She couldn't wait to find out.

Sara unlocked her apartment door and turned on the lights. The dark room became shrouded in a warm white light. Sara holds the door open for Ava while the letter crossed the doorstep.

“Welcome to my apartment. Feel free to make yourself comfortable.”

“I should have known you’re the studio apartment type of girl.” Ava chuckled lightly, the melodious sound made Sara smile warmly and she doesn’t even notice.

“I don’t know there existed such types, but you seem to like it so…” Sara shoved her hands in her back pockets and bite a smile back.

“Yeah, I like it.”

The way the taller blondes eyes were locked with Sara’s made the letter’s stomach flip and left her wondering if her apartment was still the subject Ava talked about. Behind those greyish-blue eyes, Sara could see a fire burning, something wild that waited for the right moment, that waited for the right person to be freed. And Sara was sure she wants to be this person.  
She swallowed down what seems to be a mountain in her throat, her mouth suddenly felt dry. She broke the eye contact with Ava and stripped off her leather jacket, hung it over one of the hooks on the wall. The taller blonde did the same and after both had stripped off their shoes as well, Sara crossed the room and entered the open kitchen area.

“You want something to drink?”

“Yeah, please.” Ava followed Sara and took a seat on one of the bar seats. “But remember you’re actually not allowed to drink.” The taller blonde let out a sigh. “But I don’t really think that I’m in the position to lecture you about that but please don’t get drunk, okay?” Her features became serious for a moment and then were replaced by a soft pleading smile.

“You know, I got an exceptional high alcohol tolerance, but I promise.” She looked up and shot Ava a wink. “You like wine, beer, whiskey,...?” Sara had opened one of the cupboards and inspected her stocks, searching for a specific whiskey bottle. She could really use a sip of some to calm down her nerves.

“Oh, I could use some whiskey.”  
The captain found what she had looked for and pulled out the ancient whiskey bottle Snart gave to her after her first job as a team leader. She opened another cupboard and took two whiskey glasses out.  
Sara put both on the kitchen unit and opened the cork that held the bottle closed. She poured some of the amber liquid in both glasses and handled one of them to Ava.

“To the effects of alcohol.” The taller blonde lifted her glass a bit, greyish-blues eyes on icy-blues.

“To second dates with beautiful woman.” Sara shot her a smirk and downed the whiskey in one sip. She could feel the welcomed liquid burning down her throat. But she had to admit that she had never tasted a whiskey that burned like this before. Obviously, Ava felt the same, the taller blonde began to cough after she cleared her glass.

“Wow, I think it burned holes in my throat.” Sara could see a few tears well up in Ava’s eyes. It caused her to laugh and short after Ava joined her. This night felt already better than all the others before. “Where did you get this?” The taller blonde was still coughing a bit, her voice a bit hoarse.

“It was a gift from a friend. It’s good though it’s burned like hell.” A snicker escaped Sara’s mouth.

“Couldn’t have described it better.” Ava began to chuckle and short after it turned into a burst of heartful laughter.

For a moment Sara just enjoyed the laughing beautiful woman that sat in front of her and she could feel her heart warming up. This began to feel like home already. A feeling that she hadn’t had in a long time. She smiled and just kept looking at Ava.  
Eventually, her laughter faded away and she caught Sara staring at her, a little lost in her thoughts and the taller blonde looked at her, smiling teasingly. Sara could feel her cheeks flushing. Ava must love to make her this flustered. Her gaze fell to her feet. But suddenly she was saved by her stomach rumbling.

“I think we should start with cooking,” Ava said, the teasing vanished and was replaced by a soft smile.

“Right, I thought we could make lasagna. Last time you said you love noodles and it’s easy to make though I’m not a real talent in cooking.”

“It’s great. And no problem, I’m actually good at cooking. You just have to follow the instructions.” She winked at Sara, still with that soft smile on her lips, but a tone cheekier.

“Yeah, I’m not very good at following rules.” Sara chuckled and Ava joined her. The captain could feel waves of happiness rushed through her veins, making her feel vivid like never before.

Sara started to clean the vegetables after adjusting the heat in the oven and Ava just began to make the sauce. They fell into a comfortable silence, exchanging almost fond looks now and then. Sometimes, and Sara couldn’t quite say if they were always coincidences, the two women came closer together. Soft touching each other, gauging for consent from the other, always leaving goosebumps and heat on the places where their skin connected.

The soft romantic music played only in the background of her mind when Sara started to slice the vegetables. She used the sharp kitchen knife with ease and was so drowned in slicing a cherry tomato that she had almost a heart attack when became aware of Ava staring at her.

“I shouldn’t be surprised by your knife skills, should I?” She chuckled her wonderful chuckle, making Sara smile again.

“I’m actually a very skilled knife thrower.” The smaller blonde shot Ava a wink and focused her eyes on the letters gaze.

“You could show me.” The teasing wink, the cocky smirk and the way Ava held one of the cherry tomatoes from the board between her tempting lips before she ate it, made heat rising inside Sara.

“Are you telling me you have a knife kink, Miss Sharpe?” A teasing smirk settled on Sara’s features and she tilted her head a little, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Maybe.” The teasing voice only increased the smirk on Sara’s lips. They came a little closer and began to lean in. Their lips almost touched but before they could connect, a high pitched sound signalled that the oven had arrived the adjusted temperature. Both women broke the almost kiss and turned back to their work. Biting back smiles.

Damn it!

The next ten minutes passed by with a few more touching situations, shared looks and biting back smiles. And after they prepared the lasagna and shoved it in the oven, Sara made sure to start a timer on her phone.  
Meanwhile, Ava looked for cutlery, plates and wine glasses. They both prepared the dining table and stored another bottle of Ava’s favourite wine in the fridge. Both women took their whiskey glasses from earlier and also the bottle and made themselves comfortable on the big couch in Sara’s apartment.  
The captain poured them another glass of the burning amber liquid and gave Ava her glass. After downing the second round, Sara could feel the relaxing effect the alcohol had on her nerves. The two went through a bit of small talk about high school and work.

A few moments in comfortable silence ended when Ava started all of a sudden to fiddling with her hands. Her eyes on her crossed legs on the couch. Sara looked at her, wondering what might be going on in her mind. She decided to ask, inside her the wish to help Ava with whatever might occur her mind.

“Hey, what’s up?” Sara’s voice was soft and she placed a warm hand on Ava’s left knee, catching her eyes.

“I- I wanted to ask you if anything is alright with that shot you took last weekend. It’s none of my business, I know, but I care about you. You may have saved my life the other day and I feel like I owe you something.” She talked so fast, Sara had almost trouble with following her words. The taller blonde sighed. “But that's not why I'm here, please don't get me wrong. I truly like you and I just wanted to know if anything is alright or if you need something.”

The genuine concern in her voice hit Sara off guard. It surprised her that this woman, that she still knows barely, cared this much about her. It felt good though it was unfamiliar and yet it filled something inside, a void that had been there for a long time. A soft smile settled on her features, she tentatively took both of Ava’s hands in hers, feeling the coldness from her hands in her own.  
She cached her gaze and placed a soft look in her own eyes.  
“You owe me nothing, okay? No woman should ever suffer at the hands of men and it was a pleasure to make that clear to these jackasses. And I'll make sure that no one will ever gonna lay a hand on you again.” The words came right out of her heart, she couldn’t hold them back, doesn’t even want to hold them back. "And about the wound, it’s healing fast, there’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m okay, okay?” A small pause. “And I- I like you too.”

When she spoke out the last thing, Ava’s shoulders relaxed and the beautiful smile came back on her mouth, increasing the warmth Sara felt inside that felt now like a bonfire burning in her body.  
For a moment both kept smiling fondly to each other. Then the smile disappeared slowly from Sara’s face while she found herself drowning into Ava’s breathtaking eyes. Their hands were still together, holding each other tightly.  
The smaller blonde felt her body leaning in, completely lost in the other woman's eyes. Both faces only inches apart and Sara could feel Ava inhaling shorter breaths, her lips parted. Hot air escaping Ava’s lungs, leaving goosebumps all over Sara's cleavage while their eyes were still fixated at each other. All surroundings cut out, her eyes shut down. Then Sara felt the cold tip of Ava’s nose on her cheek and the next thing she could feel were soft lips on hers. Kissing tentatively, tasting each other. Sara unwinds their hands and placed hers on Ava’s blushing cheeks. The letters hands were in the air for a short moment than finding the right place on Sara’s hips, sending a shiver up and down her spine.  
Ava was now lying on the couch with Sara on top of her, still kissing each other's lips. Skin on skin, lips on lips. No need in the kiss, only fondness. Her stomach flipped and she felt herself blushing, goosebumps now all over her body.

The kiss lasted several moments until both pulled back slightly, opening their eyes, pupils were blown wide. Sara was panting, this was the most literally breathtaking kiss she had ever experienced. They both smiled at each other, the eyes never leaving their focus. Lips crashing again together, but this time more wild, more needy, almost fierce.  
Sara bites Ava’s bottom lip and when their tongues met, the taller blonde couldn’t hold back a moan, causing Sara to smirk into the kiss.  
Far away, Sara heard a high pitched sound but shoved it away, occupying her mind with every impression, with every feeling Ava left on her body.

They shared more kisses, sometimes fond, then turning into more wild ones. Their hands trailing down each other's bodies, leaving goosebumps and shivers on their paths. Discovering skin and testing things the other may like.

Only when Sara smelled something burned, their lips parted and she became aware of her ringing phone. Ava seems to realize it too, her lips formed now a grin until both women broke out in laughter.  
The joy lasted a while, then Sara got up, still a peaceful smile on her lips. She turned the alarm off and pulled out the baking tray with the now burned lasagne. She turned her gaze to the also smiling Ava, her eyes had that adorable crinkle.

“Guess we order take out then.” Sara bite her lip while she walked over to the stunning woman.

“It seems so.” Ava smiled and took one of Sara’s hands, pulling her close and placing a tender kiss on her lips.

The two women ordered two large pizzas and while they waited for them to come they had another episode of sweet kisses on hot lips, skin burning on skin. Now and then the silence was interrupted by the rumbling of their now more than empty stomachs, causing both of them to smile in the kisses the women shared.

Eventually, the doorbell ringed and Ava walked over from the couch to the apartment door. Sara could see that Ava put extra effort in swaying her hips, doing things to her. Her eyes focused on something that was definitely not the back of the taller blondes head. She poured Ava and herself another glass from the burning whiskey.  
Meanwhile, the taller blonde paid the young man that delivered the pizza and gave him an extra-large tab. No doubt the DA was a bit tipsy.

They started to eat the pizzas on the dining table and fell into an easy conversation. The daylight had already turned into the dark of the night and high in the sky some lonely stars were shining bright in the night.

Normally Sara would now make her way to the cemetery where Laurel’s grave was and cry her heart out like she does every night, telling the gravestone how much she missed her sister and how sorry she felt for not being there when she had needed her, for screwing her life up.  
But all that, the city lights, the shining stars, the sirens from the police cars down in the streets and her sister, couldn’t get into Sara’s mind. Her head was too occupied with those beautiful eyes, letting her forget what lay behind her and what she was afraid of. Letting her be as peaceful as she had never felt before.

At some point in the conversation, Ava returned to the night when she found herself in the role of the damsel in distress and Sara came to her help like the knight in dazzling armour.

“I never want to feel like that again, I’ve never felt that helpless in my entire life.”

“I can understand that, even if I’m trained in five different martial arts styles, that doesn’t take the fear away in some situations.”

“Five?!” Ava’s expression was filled with surprise and her mouth gaped.

“What can I say.” Sara giggled and shrugged with her shoulders. “I think it’s somehow normal to be able to defend yourself when you’re growing up as a cop-daughter.” For a split second the smile on her lips disappeared when she realized what she had just said. But just as soon as the happiness faded from her face, she regained composure and the smile reappeared. Ava seemed to hadn’t noticed.

“Cop-daughter, huh?” Fear came up when Sara could already tell what Ava was about to ask next, her hands started shaking a little. “Is he still in duty?”

She tried to calm her stiff body with inhaling a deep breath, collecting her thoughts for a second. “He…,” the shaking increased, she pulled them under the table to hide them from Ava, not wanting to raise more questions. “He was dismissed four years ago.”

Mayhaps it was because of Ava sensing Sara’s aversion for this topic or she just got enough information, that the DA swallowed down a big bite from a pizza slice and didn’t ask further questions. She seemed to overthink something for a moment, Sara hoped it wasn’t another question about her family.

“Maybe you could give me some advice on how I can overcome this damsel-in-distress-thing and learn to defend myself. I mean, training with you were great though, but I… Well, maybe you could give me some recommendations about where to start or which self-defence system may help me.”

Sara let out a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding, the sudden stiffness of her body relaxing. She thought for a moment, considering the options.  
“You could start with Krav Maga, it’s easy to start with and you learn the essentials in a short amount of time when you do it regularly.”

“Sounds good.” A soft smile played around the taller blondes mouth and for a moment Sara got hypnotized by watching it. The mirror neurons instantly forming a smile on her mouth, making her heart glow, filled with cosy warmth. Only Ava tilting her head to her right and looking at the smaller blonde with amusement in her eyes pulled Sara out of her thoughts.

Sara shook her head lightly and regained her self-restraint. “I may know someone who can teach you. I would do it myself but I suggest, you want to learn it from a real instructor and with regular courses that fit your schedule.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. But for the record, you’re a great teacher.” The blonde woman shot her a wink and the former soft smile turned into a teasing one.

“Oh, I’m sure that I can teach you more things than martial arts.” Sara let her gaze drop to Ava’s hand on the table then followed her index finger trailing up the letters hand to her arm, crossing her shoulder, wandering over her cleavage and hooking under the taller woman’s chin, pulling her into a provocative kiss.  
Ava kissed back, almost fierce and Sara could feel the need behind it. After they kissed for moments, Sara pulled back and could see a pout forming on Ava’s perfect lips. The captain shoved her chair back, jumped off and with a few long strikes around the table, she pulled the DA into another needy kiss.  
She could feel Ava’s cold hands through the thin fabric of her tank top on her hips, sending shivers up her spine. Their bodies acted like they were remote-controlled, stepping back, crashing together at the wall behind them. For a moment the pulled back, breaking the kiss, both panting hard. They immediately crashed together again, wild and without any self-restraint. Sara flipped them over, now Ava was pushed against the wall, never breaking the kiss. They stayed there for a minute, then Sara pulled them back, holding the taller blonde’s cheeks tight, the letters hands trailing over her back. She led them to the separated bedroom, her hands wandering down, discovering the yet foreign body.

They passed the wall and headed straight towards Sara’s bed. There was far too much clothing between her hands and Ava’s delicate skin for Sara’s liking. She opened her eyes, fixating the blown wide greyish-blues in front of her, seeing the consent she needed. Quickly she pulled up the shirt the taller blonde was wearing and let her hands drawing cycles all over her toned stomach. She felt heat spreading from under her hips, only increasing when Ava pulled the rim of her tank top over her head. Sara could see the smile that Ava tried to bite back, noticing how her eyes turned into a darker shade of blue.  
The taller blonde drank the body in front of her all in. For a moment she was distracted by the scars on her abs, she couldn't see the ones on her back, curious where they might come from, but she was way too distracted to ask the woman in front of her. “See something you like?” Her voice was hoarse and lower than usual. The captain question left answered with words, instead, the DA pulled Sara closer, turned her to the other side and pushed her gently on her bed.

Sara’s head landed on the smooth pillows, she giggled. She could feel Ava’s eyes on her, subconsciously flexing her abs muscles, smirking at her. The smaller blonde licked her lips and a second later, Ava was on top of her, their faces only inches apart and before Sara could push herself up to kiss the woman above her, the other blonde began to place kisses along her neck, slowly driving Sara crazy. She felt goosebumps all over her body and the smirk that played around the taller blondes mouth tells Sara that she felt it too. For a moment Ava hovered over Sara’s mouth again, teasing her lips, but not giving her the relief she hoped for, let her starving for her kiss.

The DA began to trail down Sara’s upper body with the tip of her tongue, causing the letter to tighten her fist around the part of the blanket she was holding. Just before the taller blonde reached the hem of the smaller blondes jeans she stopped, then kissing her way up on the wet trail she left earlier.  
When she arrived on the captain’s jaw, she slowed down, kissing more tenderly. Then she hovered a moment over her mouth and before she could leave Sara again without placing a kiss on her lips, the letter pulled the taller woman down to her, kissing her hard, playing with each other's tongues.  
And with one smooth motion, she flipped them over, smirking at the now surprised Ava.  
“I say I could teach you something.” Her voice now more hoarse than before, her eyes following her forefinger finding it's way up the letter's body, then let her gaze flicker higher, fixating the dark eyes underneath her.

She licked her lips and pulled the other woman in another searing kiss. Sara teased the taller blonde with breathing featherlight kisses all over her body, then stopping at her pulse point. When she inhaled a deep breath, her mind became dizzy for a moment from the intoxicating scent from the perfect woman below her. The captain could feel the shivers running down Ava’s body when she started nipping on the sensitive point on her neck. The gorgeous body beneath her tightened and she could feel the other woman’s hips bucking against her own. The contact send waves of pleasure through her body, she let a groan escape from the back of her throat. Ava replied with a moan that caused another wave of heat rushing through her veins. She stopped nipping and placed a sloppy wet kiss on the delicate lips underneath her. While the other blonde deepened the kiss, she flipped them over again, let Sara down into the pillows again, Ava sitting now on her thighs.

Both women were panting like they just ran a marathon. When the taller blonde let her fingers run down her body again, the goosebumps returned, but when Sara realized what she was about to do, a feeling that had never been there before appeared in her head. She doesn’t feel ready yet. Sara inhaled a sharp breath when Ava opened the button of her jeans and when the letter started to pull the zipper down, she felt her right hand flicker to Ava’s and hold it in a tight grip.  
The taller blondes gaze shot up to meet Sara’s, both surprised from what Sara had done. She has never been hesitant before, not speaking of stopping someone from having sex with her. “Wait,” she breathed, almost inaudible, her voice insecure as it had never been before.

“Was something wrong?” The self-consciousness in Ava’s voice let Sara’s heart crack. She doesn’t mean to make her doubt herself.

“No, no, you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s just… I want to wait. I don’t know why, but I’ve got this feeling.” She withdrew her hand and began to fiddle with them.

“It’s okay, Sara. I understand.” The surprised expression on Ava’s features disappeared and instead, a soft, reassuring smile settled in.

“I mean, you are stunning, looking perfect. I just want this,” she gestured with her left index finger between them, “to be perfect and if we were having sex right now there would be nothing special about it.” She inhaled a deep breath. “And I want it to be special,” she said, but her voice low and her gaze on her wringing hands.

“Hey, Sara, look at me,” the taller blonde pulled Sara’s chin up gently, meeting her gaze, her smile still soft, “it’s absolutely okay. I want this to be special too and we’ll wait until we’re both ready for it, okay?” Sara nodded in response and was pulled into a kiss. This time sweet and tender, filled with love.

The kiss lasted several moments and eventually, Ava pulled back, breaking the kiss. “Maybe we should get ready for bed then, what do you think?” Her voice sweet in Sara’s ears, her fingertips trailing along Sara’s body again.

“Should I bring you home already?” She pouted. She couldn't stop herself from teasing the other woman.

“You made a promise, you remember?” Ava said and then let her fingers tickle Sara, making the letter giggle.

“I thought you were just tipsy when you made me promise it, but what can I say when such a breathtaking woman is so willing to stay.” Now she earned a smack on her arm from the taller blonde, turning her giggle into full laughter. Ava stood up and Sara felt herself already missing the contact, the warmth of the other woman.

“I guess you’re having a spare toothbrush in the bathroom?” The other woman asked while leaving the room, swaying her hips gently, meant for Sara to be seen.

“In the sink cabinet!”

Sara sat in her bed for a moment, feeling the ghost of the taller blondes lips on her, then jumped out of it. She opened the closet, searching for a shirt for Ava to sleep in.

I wonder if…

She found the shirt she searched and nuzzled her nose into the soft fabric, inhaling the familiar scent. Sara could feel her eyes tear up. She blinked them away and swallowed down the stone inside her throat. The grip around the fabric tightened and she walked towards the bathroom, knocking on the door, waiting for permission to come in.

Ava opened the door and for a short moment, Sara was distracted by the sight of the breathtaking woman in front of her, standing there only in her bra and panties. A blush crept up her neck and her cheeks became red. The taller blonde grinned and her gaze lowered to the shirt in Sara’s hand.

“A relict of one of your previous conquests?” She raised an eyebrow.

Sara chuckled, but became serious soon after, “No, it’s one of my sisters. Thought, you didn’t want to sleep naked. But I wouldn’t mind though.” She shot her a wink and threw the shirt to her. Then she turned around and made her way back to her bed, now swaying her hips, a cheeky grin on her lips.

Five minutes later, Sara sat on her bed in one of Laurel’s other old tee-shirts with the Star City High School-logo on it. Back when her sister died, she couldn’t give them away. Sometimes she wore them for days, when she missed her sister too much and she slept every night in of them, the scent of Laurel’s old perfume helping her to find sleep.  
Ava reappeared and joined Sara on her bed. Her eyes taking the room in for the first time.

Sara could see the exact moment when Ava’s gaze fell to the sword-holder on the left side of her bed. She wasn’t able to see them earlier and now her mouth gaped slightly, obviously thinking of something to say. The captain preceded her, “I kind of have a thing for short swords, that’s why I started Filipino martial arts. And that’s why I’m good with knives too.” She shrugged and winked to the other woman, then grinned widely at her.

“Well, I think, everybody has their kinks.” The taller blonde winked back and giggled, causing Sara to turn her grin into a soft smile. The DA’s gaze wandered further and stopped at the bedside table, she took the frame with the only picture in the whole apartment and looked at it for a moment.

“Is that your sister?” Her voice was soft, nevertheless, Sara’s body stiffed for a moment and she felt her throat tighten. The picture showed them right before Laurel left for law school, they had taken it after she moved into her dorm room, for both of the sisters to remember them together. She managed only a quick nod in response, felt her throat tighten and her chest began to hurt from the inability to breathe normally. “You two look so happy. What’s her name?”

“Laurel.” She could only press the name through her tight lips, giving it an unfamiliar ongoing sound. Again Ava seemed to sense the discomfort that had overcome Sara and she stopped asking questions. Instead, she pulled Sara closer and placed a tender kiss on her forehead, the soft gesture caused her to relax into the warm embrace and eventually she was able to breathe again. A single tear running down her cheek.  
Her eyes became heavy, the last thing she felt was another soft kiss on her forehead and a sweet voice that whispered I got you in her ear before she drifted off to sleep.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

She stood in front of a familiar house, the house of her parents, she remembered. The flowers in the front garden bloomed, shining in many different colours. Sara felt a warm breeze playing in her hair, comforting her cold skin. The sunlight warmed her back, birds singing on this beautiful summer morning.

Her legs began to move towards the front door of the house, her nose intaking the smell of fresh-made pancakes. Her hand turned the doorknob around, opening the door. The legs carry her through the small entrance hall until she arrived in the kitchen. In front of her a smaller blonde girl, shoving pancakes from the pan onto a plate. A small smile on her wasted-looking face, dark rings under her lifeless blue eyes.  
Sara tried to move forward, to walk to the girl but her feet didn’t respond. She remembered what will happen, what happened the night before this day. But her body was like frozen to the ground until the girl left the room, in her hand a tablet with fresh orange juice and the pancakes she’d made.  
When the girl left the room, her legs started moving again. They carried her through the corridor, passing by the living room where the sharp scent of alcohol hit her nose and her eyes showed her a limp body lying on the couch.  
She saw the girl turning her head away from the door to the living room and walking straight to the stairs. Her own body followed her upwards to the first floor. When her right foot hit the end of the stairs, she tried to scream to the girl, trying to gain her attention. To stop her from opening the door to her parent's bedroom, where her mother used to sleep, to convince her that all was going to be okay, even she knows that was a lie she doesn’t even believe herself. But she couldn’t, her lips didn’t even move a bit.  
Sara watched the girl open the door and then saw in slow motion how the tablet with the pancakes and orange juice crashed to the ground, the smile in the girls face faded away and tears streamed down her face. Her own body showed no reaction for what she knows her younger self had just seen, no tears, no tight throat, no emotions. Only the numb feeling inside her, that was left when she remembered this day.  
She was pulled back, back down the stairs, back through the front door, the former blue sky now dark, the sun nowhere to be seen and no birds to be heard. Leaving behind the fourteen-year-old Sara with what she had just seen, leaving behind the lifeless room without any sign from her mother in it. Like she had never existed.

Her eyes flew open, in her ears a cry that she shortly recognized as her own, cold sweat running down her face. Her damp shirt sticking on her freezing body. The room around her dark. Suddenly she felt a warm hand on her chest, right over her pounding heart, grounding her.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m right here.” A soft but slight concerned voice spoke into her ears. She could smell a familiar scent, mixing with a vanilla-note. Her still dizzy brain couldn’t process the pieces of information right.

“Laurel?” Her voice sounded thick, hoarse from the cry and she felt tears stream down her cheeks, along with the sweat from her forehead.

“No, it’s me, Ava.” The familiar voice became even softer, the realization hit Sara’s mind like a rock and caused her to cry harder. Remembering what happened to Laurel. A tender kiss on her forehead eased the sobs that shook her entire body a bit, two strong arms pulled her into a tight embrace.

The taller blonde waited until the sobs and tears were nearly gone. Still holding her tightly and placing kisses on her forehead, wiping the tears away and rubbing a grounding hand over her back.  
Eventually, the smaller blonde untangled herself from the hug, her gaze on her wringing hands, not wanting to let the other woman see the shame in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, her voice barely hearable.

Ava lifted Sara’s chin, forcing the letter to meet the taller blondes eyes, her own eyes filled with a mixture of concern and softness. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Her voice was firm. “You can talk to me, okay? I’m right here.” The hand on Sara’s chest reappeared.

“I don’t want to burden you with my shit.” Even if she still had the feeling that Ava might be able to be the one person Sara hadn’t known she was looking for, she wouldn’t want to risk their new relationship because of another nightmare she had.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to leave, I promise.” The firm but still so soft voice gave Sara the encouragement she needed to face Ava’s gaze, looking for evidence for doubt or anything that may be a sign that she doesn’t mean what she had just promised. There was none, only absolute determination and honesty. She inhaled a deep breath, bracing herself for what she was going to tell Ava.

“I had a dream about my mother. She left me and my dad, she…,” her throat tightened, a knot forming inside it, “She left without any word in the middle of the night four years ago. And I never heard from her again, she just left.” Tears filled her eyes again.

“Oh, Sara…” Ava pulled her in another tight hug, placing another kiss on her forehead and wiping the tears again away. After a moment the taller blonde asked, “Why did she…?” The question came out unfinished, hesitant.

“She left because of the death of my sister,” she managed to say between sobs, her voice tremorous. “She was shot while she tried to help another woman who was rubbed.” Another wave of sobs hit her, making her still cold body shiver again. “She died alone in the streets and I wasn’t there to help her. Maybe if I only had been there... I- I feel like I am responsible for her death because I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.” Sara wasn’t able to control the words that left her mouth but the truth about Laurel or her mum wasn't something she could hide for long anyway. And somehow it felt good to let this out. She had never talked to anybody besides her father about this feeling.

“There would’ve been nothing that you could’ve done, okay? You’re not responsible for anything, you hear me?” The taller blonde pulled her even closer, warming the cold, shivering, small body between her arms. And even though Sara didn’t truly believe Ava’s words, she let them ease the pain she felt, let them comfort and reassure her. 

They remained in this position for a long time, Sara in Ava’s arms, the letter placing comforting kisses on her head, talking sweet things into her ears, until both women drifted off to sleep again. Normally the nights when Sara had a nightmare, the sleep after waking up from the dream was restless and filled with pictures from everything she had dreamed.  
But now, sleeping entangled within the arms of the taller blonde, the sleep after her nightmare and their talk was better. No pieces of the former dream, no new nightmare.

The only thing she dreamed about, was a certain blonde woman with beautiful hypnotizing eyes and sweet, soft lips, tasting like heaven. Subconsciously Sara could smell the light vanilla scent, feel the warmth of the other woman lying next to her. It was the best, most healing sleep she had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again :D
> 
> I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter and had fun while reading.  
> There were a lot more angst and family stuff than I planned there to be but during the writing, I screwed the original idea to make them kiss and came up with the wound-story again. Besides, it would be unusual for Ava not to mention it, especially when she cares for Sara already this much. Sara telling Ava this early about her mum and Laurel also wasn't planned but during the writing process it felt right to me and the nightmare came into my head as a possibility to make Ava more curious about Sara's past and let the letter telling her about her sister. The more significant secret here is her involvement in the criminal business.
> 
> Let me know what you think about this chapter, I appreciate your opinion and I'm happy when you leave a comment with feedback :)  
> [This](https://twitter.com/_Zeered_) is my twitter account, in the future I'll post some updates about the upcoming chapters there. Check it out if you want ;)
> 
> Hope you have a lovely day/night and see you in the next chapter! :)


	7. I Can't Take My Eyes Off You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after kissing!Avalance and surprise, there is more kissing ;))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I wanted to apologise for updating this late. Uni started this week and I had not much time to write in the last three weeks. I hope the next update will come sooner. I post updates on my Twitter for those who want ;)
> 
> I hope you'll like the chapter and I'm eager to hear what you want to say! Feel free to ask questions about the storyline, characters or other things (In the comments or Twitter)
> 
> Thanks to all the lovely comments and kudos you send to me. They're a great motivation and it's nice to see that people actually like the stuff I wrote :)
> 
> The title is from the song "Can't take my eyes off you" and there's a cover from the band Soccx in which Caity was a looong time ago xD

The sunlight tickled on her nose tip. For a moment her eyes fluttered open, immediately dazzled by the brightly shining sun, she shut her eyes again, firmly, stirring below the warm blanket and nuzzling her head closer into the pillow that smelled like vanilla but felt strange underneath her neck.  
When her brain catches up with her surroundings, she realized, that she was lying half on a woman’s chest, her face now snuggled between her head and her neck. The vanilla scent triggered memories of sweet kisses last night, almost too perfect to be true, feeling like a dream, like a dream that was too good to be hers, one that she certainly didn’t deserve, she said to herself. Yet the little spark of doubts in her mind could not take away the overwhelming feeling of happiness floating through her veins into every inch of her body. And even if she remembered the nightmare she had last night too, Sara felt well-rested. Her body neither stiff or aching, instead lying relaxed between two arms, which were still holding her tightly.

When she placed her head on the upper body of the woman, she felt the slow and steady up and down from Ava’s chest while she was breathing. Her own breath became slower when she concentrates on the taller blondes heartbeat, taking a minute just hearing it, feeling the life-spending muscle flex and relax in a steady rhythm. She could feel the vivid strong beat beneath her, feel the warmth spreading from the taller woman, sipping through her shirt, flow through her own and sinking into her skin.  
A peaceful, unwinded smile settled on her lips. This felt perfect. She wanted to wake up like this forever, for her entire life.

Sara didn’t dare to make a move, not wanting to disturb the peacefully sleeping woman beneath her. The smaller blonde took the time to engrave every detail into her mind she could find on Ava’s mesmerizing face. Her long eyelashes, the well-formed cheekbones, her slightly curved lips.

After several minutes passed by, the taller blonde stirred slightly, groaning because of the sunlight shining directly in her face now. Sara, who was fully awake by now, placed a soft kiss on her lips, smiling into it when the other woman kissed her back.  
“Good morning,” she breathed into her ear, making the taller woman giggling. The DA pulled her closer and placed another kiss on her mouth, sloppier. Her mind not entirely awake, assumed Sara.

“Good morning,” the other woman said, a little groaning and her voice thick from sleep. Then she pushed herself up and opened her eyes, her gaze meeting Sara’s. A soft smile appeared on her lips and she bites her on her bottom lip in a way that let Sara instantly place a kiss on them.  
When they broke the kiss, both women kept looking into each other's eyes, their foreheads pressed together, both smiling, they kissed again, tenderly and filled with love. Sara deepened the kiss and she could feel her stomach flip when Ava took the lead and let fingertips running up her legs, getting to the hem of her shirt and shoving her fingers underneath the soft fabric. For a moment her fingertips traced along on her rib cage, drawing small patterns over the skin where the canary tattoo was. The smaller blonde could feel her breath hitching when the fingertips reached the rim of her breasts, goosebumps immediately on her entire body.  
A nearly inaudible whimper escaped her mouth and Ava grinned devilishly at her when she withdrew them. Sara groaned at the loss of the pleasing contact and decided that now was her turn. No sex yet didn’t means no teasing. And before the taller blonde could make another attack on her senses, Sara pushed her back into the still-warm sheets, pressing her hands down together with her left above her head and with the right trailing down on the woman’s left side. The captain could feel the shiver coming down, following her fingertips when she started to draw patterns on Ava’s stomach.  
But she wouldn’t let her down this easy. Instead, Sara stopped her fingers and turned the taller blonde's cheek with her right index finger to the woman’s right and started to kiss her way from her jawbone to the pulse point on her neck, where she left the hickey last night. She started licking around it, sucking slightly above the sensitive spot from last night.  
Sara felt the taller blonde shifting under her and she heard the sharp intake of air from the mouth next to her. She rested there a few more moments, then stopped the nipping and looked at the new-forming bruise just above the old one. The captain lifted her head to Ava’s ear.  
“I guess you should wear a scarf today.” Then she took a soft bite on the other woman’s neck and pushed herself up, seeing Ava’s firmly closed eyes flutter open, her mouth gaped in a way, that made Sara lick her own lips and place immediately a fierce kiss on them. The taller woman melted into the kiss. She hummed softly and Sara couldn’t hold back the smile growing on her face. Everything felt so perfect around Ava, she felt good, like good with herself, forgetting all she had to endure over her entire life and just living in the moment.

The two women cuddled and kissed a little longer until a loud noise startled them both. After a second Sara remembered the noise as her alarm for getting up and get ready for school. It must be about six am. Though she wasn’t a morning person, she needed the time left until school started for waking up, finding some motivation and grabbing a coffee on the way to school. Groaning in annoyment, she lifted herself out of the bed. Sara just wanted to stay like this forever and had completely shut out anything about going to school.

After she turned the alarm off, she moved around and made sure to put on her puppy-eyes and the most adorable pout she had in her repertoire. “You know we just could stay here. You and me in this bed.” Sara made sure to mix seduction into the sweet and innocent voice. And just for a moment, it seemed to work, Ava smirked and leaned in a little. The pout on Sara’s mouth faded into a winning smirk, just before a quick kiss was breathed against her lips.

She opened her eyes and felt the mattress dip next to her, the taller blonde shoving herself off the bed, the winning smirk now on her lips.  
“Don’t you think I let you skip school for me.” She winked, leaving into the other part of the apartment and even if Sara would rather stay in bed with this stunning human next to her than go to school, she smiled delightedly by the easiness with what Ava had tricked her.

A moment later Sara heard the shower starting and before she realized, her cheeks were blushing at the thought if Ava would mind if Sara would join her. But last night she said, she wasn’t ready then and this feeling hadn’t left her yet.

The surprise in Ava’s eyes came into her mind and doubt settled in. Doubt about waiting for having sex with her was right. Maybe Ava was disappointed by now, she hadn’t looked like she was earlier but she just could lie to her. Maybe she just doesn’t want to disappear in the middle of the night or not wanting to hurt Sara but not wanting to see her again for another date. Ava seemed like a person who wouldn’t want to directly hurt anyone, she seemed to try to be kind.  
So perhaps the things she said last night, when Sara had stopped her and when she woke up in the night with the nightmare, weren’t honest and just to calm her down so she could quickly get to sleep again and leave as quickly as possible in the morning.  
Maybe this was the reason why she wanted Sara not to skip school or why she went to shower first and when Sara would go under the shower she would get her stuff, head towards the train station and leave a note or something, she thought.

The smaller blonde could feel her heart rate picking up, just like the speed of the negative thoughts invading her mind. Her breathes became shallow and her view seemed narrowed, her muscles flexed. She froze right on the bed like she was stuck in time and was completely drawn into her thoughts dripping with doubts.

She wasn’t worth the love of someone so perfect, so innocent and pure as Ava. She shouldn’t like her, she shouldn’t be with her. In the end, Sara would hurt her and break her heart as she does with everyone else. And yet here she was, feeling comfortable around her, like the way she felt around her. Even if she wasn’t worth it, she didn't want to let it go, didn't want to wake up alone anymore.  
These thoughts rushed through her mind, increasing the insecurity she fell into. 

The captain had lost track of her surroundings and wasn’t aware of the taller blonde coming to the bedroom again. She was too drawn in her thoughts to feel Ava coming close and sit on the bed next to her. Sara didn’t realize she was there, she was to drown in her thoughts, until she felt the familiar warmth of her hand on her back, pulling her back into reality.

“You okay?” Sara managed to nod as an answer, she tried to put a smile on her face but it looked broken.

“You’re still here?” Sara’s voice sounded small, barely hearable.

“Why should I go away? Is it because of the nightmare from last night?” Ava’s face was wrapped in a soft expression, the hand still on Sara’s back and now drawing light patterns on it. She already felt the tension flee out of her shoulders when she shook her head. “About last night when you said that you want us to wait to have sex?” Her features became even softer, her eyes filled with concern. 

“Yes,” Sara managed to say, her voice hoarse.

“Sara, look at me,” the taller blonde searched her eyes and when she found them she fixed her gaze on the piercing blues, “there is nothing to be sorry for or anything you have to worry about, okay? I meant what I said last night, I want you and me - us to be special. And I want you to be entirely comfortable around me. I’m happy that you stopped me because now sex last night I would’ve meant nothing to me.“ Sara looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Okay, I bet it would’ve been great but what I want to say is that I had really fun with you yesterday and on our other date. This isn’t a one-time thing for me. I know it’s early to say such things but I want our relationship to evolve. I want to do silly things with you, to cook dinner for you or just watch a boring tv show with you in my arms on the couch.” She took one of Sara’s hands in hers and looked at them for a moment. “What you did last night showed me that you maybe want this too.”

The sincerity and determination in Ava’s voice defeated all doubts left in Sara’s head. She felt suddenly overwhelming safe around the taller blonde. And maybe, just maybe, a little tear rolled down from Sara’s eye. She ducked her head down and tried to hide it, a smile grew on her features.

“Yeah, that’ll be great.” She looked up to the taller blonde and looked at her softly. Ava looked back at her and after a moment they shared a slow and tender kiss.

“What about I make us breakfast and you jump under the shower?” The taller blonde said.

“Okay,” Sara answered, her eyes fixed on Ava’s, pressing a smiling kiss on her lips.

Sara showered for about five minutes and when she stepped out of the bathroom, a soft towel wrapped around her, she smelled something that was definitive eggs. In an instant, a smile claimed her lips when she saw Ava in one of Laurel’s old hoodies and sweatpants. It felt right to see her old clothes filled with life again. She was dancing around in the kitchen area to Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock, her hair in a messy bun, droplets firing through the apartment from her still-damp hair.

Nate was a big fan of Elvis and some of his songs became insiders between the Legends and every time they listened to them, they had to laugh again over the most hilarious situations they had found their self in while listening to certain songs.

The story behind Jailhouse Rock was one of the things-we-did-drunk-kind. The Legends had visited a house party at one of their classmate's homes and were all a little drunk. Mick had agreed to pick them up and when they were halfway to Amaya’s house, drunken Nate had easily convinced him to stop at the main train station and do some spraying one of the trains. Because all of them were drunk and Amaya and Nate stoned, he persuaded her to get on a spiritual journey with him, they agreed. Quickly they bought a dozen spray cans and headed to the almost empty train station.  
They managed to get to one of the trains without getting caught. Sara and Mick began to spray a giant dick on it. Ray sprayed with Amaya a big heart with Free luve for all peaple standing right in the middle, their fogged minds not longer able to spell things correctly. Meanwhile, Nate had a fight with Zari over her Bluetooth-box, he wanted to play something and Zari wouldn’t let him. He had already connected his phone and when Nora, who had watched out for someone to come, she was the soberest in the group at that point, scream for them to run away, an employee had spotted them, Nate just started Jailhouse Rock to play while all of them ran for their lives. Luckily they weren’t caught and left no pieces of evidence.

The song in this situation was a little ironic but whenever she remembered the night, she couldn’t hold back a chuckle. And when said chuckle escaped her mouth, Ava looked up and smiled warmly at her, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. Suddenly her heart gained size and felt like it became twice as big as it was normal, pumping warm blood filled with tons of happiness through her veins.

"I couldn't stop myself from playing some music." Her mouth was in a shy smile. An adorable one, Sara thought. 

“I don't mind." She winked at her. "That smells very delicious,” she said while she walked over to Ava, pushing herself up to her toes and placing a sweet kiss on her cheek. The other woman's eyelids closed briefly and placed a hand around Sara’s waist, tugging her closer. The vanilla scent suddenly all around her and she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the smell of the other woman.

“Thanks,” she hummed when the smaller blonde, still on her toes, placed another kiss on her jawline, than on her chin, trailing down her throat until she reached her neck. She placed one on each hickey, then another one behind her ear.

“Maybe you should get dressed? I mean, properly. Not that this towel didn’t hug you on the right places but-” Ava sighed and Sara let out a giggle.

“I understand. You just can’t bear to watch at me in this sick outfit. I just too hot for you,” Sara teased Ava and the letter’s cheeks became red. The smaller blonde stepped behind her, placing another sweet kiss on her neck. She untangled her waist with one smooth motion out of her embrace and walked to her closet, hips swaying, feeling the other woman’s eyes on her. A smirk on her face.  
“I’m right back!”

She changed from the towel into black skinny jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt. When she held the necklace Laurel gave her years ago in her hands, something hit her.  
She hasn’t been at her grave. Yesterday she had completely forgotten about that.  
For a short moment, she expected her brain to scold herself and to feel the heaviness of a bad conscience for forgetting about Laurel, but the coldness creeping its way up her back, the familiar feeling of guilt washing over her body didn’t come. She felt almost okay with not been there last night. It felt strange to her, she had never felt this way though she had been to Laurel's grave every day since she and her parents buried her.

Sara was brought back to reality by Ava singing along in the kitchen to a Florence + The Machine-song, a smile grew on her features. The captain decided to put this strange feeling she couldn’t place in the back of her mind, she would deal with it later. Then she put on some light makeup and joined Ava in the kitchen.

The DA was about to shove the scrambled eggs together with some vegetables when Sara hugged her from behind, curling her arms tightly around her waist.

“I could get used to this, waking up next to you, you making breakfast for us…” She let her right index finger trailing up the taller blondes ribs.

“Me too.” She smiled warmly than shoved their breakfast on two plates and both women walked over to the dining table.

Between them passed several moments in comfortable silence, both eating the delicious breakfast Ava made for them, and suddenly Sara remembered the party.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something.” The question came out a little hesitant. Sara doesn’t know how to start this, she doesn’t know if Ava was even comfortable with meeting her friends after their second date.

“Sure, shoot.” Ava only smiled warmly at her, giving her some encouragement she needed.

“My friends and I throw a party at my place next Friday and they wanted me to ask you if you wanna join us.” She spoke quickly and after a short pause she added, “You don’t have to, really.”

“Actually, I would love to come and meet my girlfriend's friends.” There was a glint in her eyes that woke inside her the urge to place a kiss right on her lips.

A smile settled on them. Ava cached the upcoming glint in Sara's eyes. 

"Great. Our Motto is time travel, you have to show up in costume." The smaller blonde wiggled her eyebrows.

"I think, I've already an idea." Ava chuckled. 

"Are you going to tell me about it?" The smaller blonde shoved a fork with egg into her mouth.

"Hmm, no. I don't think so." She tipped thoughtful against her chin, then smiled cheekily at her girlfriend. 

"Then I don't tell you about mine either!" Sara tucked out her tongue.

They fell into light conversations until both had finished their breakfast. A bit about Ava’s work, the parts she was allowed to talk about, and Sara told Ava the story about Mr Boardman to which the letter laughed heartfully.

Ava's look fell to the ground for a moment, then she looked right up again. Soft greyish-blues catching ocean blues.

"I wanted to thank you for telling me…", a small pause, "for telling me about your mother and your sister. I can only imagine how hard this must've been to you. Not speaking of the thing that we just got together."

At the sudden mention of Laurel Sara's chest tightened and a breath stuck in her throat. But as soon as she became aware of her body react to the uncomfortable topic, she felt the taller blonde's hand jolting up to her own, slightly cold fingers curling around hers. They were grounding her, easing the stiffness she felt settle in.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Her thumb brushed small patterns on her palm.

"Well, I don't like to talk about it. Obviously.” She let out a dry laugh. “I really don't. But part of this makes me who I am.”

Ava noticed the small motions from Sara’s left hand to her ribcage, where the canary was inked into her skin. She wasn’t sure if the smaller blonde was even aware of the gesture.

“When you’re ready to tell me details, and it’s okay if the point never comes, just tell me, okay? I’m here for you, always.” She smiled warmly at Sara and noticed the tension leaving the letters shoulders.

Even if Ava was curious about the things happened to Sara, where the scars came from, why she lived not with her dad or how in particular Laurel died and why Sara felt responsible for it, she didn’t want to push her into telling things when she’s not ready to tell. Ava could understand Sara’s hesitance with such personal things. She hasn’t been hesitant enough once before and it ruined her own life back then.

“Thank you.” It came out small and the taller blonde could hear the relief in the words. The thankfulness in the small smile Sara offered her.

“Now, come, eat breakfast as long as it’s warm.” Ava stroke one last time tenderly over the smaller blondes palm. She gave her the fork to which the letter groaned in response.

“I think I’m not hungry anymore.” Sara put her head into her neck and closed her eyes for a second.

“Oh c’mon, babe, you’ve barely eaten anything and you need to have proper breakfast before school. Without you’ll be unable to concentrate in class, trust me.” The DA put a pout on her lips and throw puppy eyes at Sara, just as the latter had tried it earlier.

Another groan, followed by a heavy sigh. “But only because of you calling me babe. Puppy eyes didn’t work.” The smug chuckle that escaped Ava’s mouth let Sara think, that she didn’t believe her lie. It didn’t really matter anyway to her because the puppy eyes were not only damn convincing but also absolutely adorable and the captain could look into them for hours.

When Sara had eaten up all the breakfast, she and Ava got ready for leaving for school and work. After a bit of discussing, the DA insisted to use the train because she wouldn't want to be the reason Sara would get late to school, eventually, Ava agreed that Sara could drive her to her office and afterwards to school. Sara had to promise her that she’ll get there right in time and wouldn’t come late to class even during the rush hour.

Just when both left the apartment and Sara locked the door behind them, her bag, on the other hand, she wondered if Ava wouldn’t need some proper suits.

“Hey, Aves, don’t you need some of these extra hot pantsuits or something?”

Ava laughed softly, tilting her head downwards to hide the blush growing on her cheeks by Sara’s comment on her suits. “I’ve always a spare suit in my office.”

“Seems like something you would do.” The captain chuckled slightly, then her gaze fell to the hoodie Ava was wearing, Laurel’s old one from before. “I’m not gonna see this one again, do I?” A smile settled on her features.

“Maybe. From time to time.” Ava smiled cheeky at her, winking and turning around, tugging Sara’s hand with her. Both were leaving the building to the parking area, getting on the bike and Sara pulled the machine on the streets to the freeway.

She dropped Ava off at her office, the letter kindly refused her offer to walk her over to the building, she was concerned about Sara getting late. They shared a few kisses and promised each other to text about when they’ll meet next time.  
When Sara waited for Ava to get out of her sight into the building, for a short moment she was afraid that the relaxed feeling would leave her and the loneliness would take control over her brain.  
But nothing like that happened. The feeling of calmness and security remained and she felt carefree like she did the other times when Ava was around. 

Peace seemed to finally start setting in her life.

\----------------------------------------------------

Amaya, Zari and Sara sat in their favourite diner with some coffee and Zari had a few of her favourite doughnuts. The weather outside had become stormy over the day, rain dropped against the window at their usual booth. In the background played some soft lounge music and Sara watched the barista making coffee for the customers when her mind fell back to her start of the day.

"Ava called me her girlfriend this morning." The sentence came out without her knowing. She heard Zari choke on her food and Amaya inhale a deep breath.

"Oh. My. Goodness."

"What drugs did you give her?"

Amaya and Zari said simultaneously and Sara immediately scoffed and smacked Zari’s arm.

Now, when she spoke out the words aloud, the weight, the full meaning of what Ava called her earlier began to sink into her mind.

“I can’t believe she actually wants to be with me.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Zari mumbled but for everyone to hear. Her girlfriend glared at her and her gaze fell to Sara.

“Hey, Sara. This is great. Okay? Don’t freak out now.” Amaya calmed her a little but her heart rate didn’t stop to increase. She already felt her hands get sweaty.

“Amaya, what if- if I mess this up? What about when she finds out about my dad? What about when she finds out about me?”

“Calm down, Sara.” Amaya lay a warm hand on her shoulder. “You’re not gonna mess up. Even if you didn’t talk much about her or the connection you share, she seems to make you happier. I saw you smile today and you didn’t even need coffee in the morning to pull yourself out of your morning mood.”

“You came in the room with a fucking smile and it was before school,” Zari said to support Amaya and bite in another doughnut.

“I mean, yeah you should tell her about all you’ve been through and about your family because it’s a big deal for you, but you can do that when you’re ready. I’m sure she’ll understand. And to your,” she made quotation marks in the air, “job, eventually, you’ll have to tell her if you want the relationship between you to evolve. You could stop doing jobs and tell her maybe when you tell her about your past put this right after. She’ll understand where you came from, but don’t hide it from her. Because such things always come out in one or the other way. Just imagine what will happen if they caught you one day.”

“I may or may not already told her about Laurel and my mother,” Sara said, a little sheepish.

“What? It took me over a year and hours of interrogation to get to know this! And you refer to me as your best friend” Zari said, scoffing.

“I highly doubt that I ever even considered to call you my best friend.” Sara bite back. At the sudden contest in bickering with each other, the fear ebbed away.

“I got it on record.” Zari’s expression shifted from surprised and glaring to a smug grin.

“What?”

“Just in case something like this would come up. And knowing you, it would, eventually.” Zari pulled her phone out of her back pocket and searched for a few seconds. Then Sara could hear her own voice, distorted through the phone's speakers.

“Ya know… Z, evn f sumtimes I hatechou, yourrr my bst friend fall time.” The few words where heavily slurred, vowels and words absorbed from her mouth, Sara couldn’t remember when was the last time she was this heavily drunk. In the background, she heard Amaya and Zari chuckle.

“First, you gonna delete this. Right now. And second, when happened that and how did you record it and why couldn’t I remember?” Sara said, her lips pressed together to a thin line.

“No, I will definitely not and even if you try to delete it with your assassin-stealth-skills, I have a dozen copies on sticks you don’t even know about. Besides, you recorded it for me when you were drunk at Mick’s and Snart’s last year. So technically you gave me your permission. And from the state of drunkenness you reached that night, it isn’t a miracle that you can’t remember.” The smug grin on her lips gained intensity.

“Okay, you two. Enough. I wanna hear what Sara has to tell about this, how it happened.” Amaya gave them both a look and ended their bickering.

Sara sighed. It was pointless not to tell them. They were her friends and though she didn’t tell them anything she appreciated their help with situations, especially this one. She would give her best to make it right.

“Well, first I gave her one of Laurel’s old shirts to sleep in. She asked if it was from a former hookup. I answered it was one of my sisters’. Short after she found the picture of us at the bedside table and asked if it was her. I said yes and she asked for her name. I answered and somehow she must’ve sensed my sensitivity for this topic and pulled me into a hug then I broke and cried like a baby. I cried until I slept and during the full process, she stayed with me. It helped to have her near me, somehow it eased the pain I felt.”  
The words slipped right out of her mouth and although first, she had to push the upcoming thoughts away, later in her telling Ava’s actions caused her lips to turn into a soft smile. She didn’t notice the wide and knowing smile on Amaya’s and Zari’s lips, the look they shared.  
“Then I woke up in the night during a nightmare and Ava was there again, caressed me and I just blurted it out. About my mum and Laurel. She’s was there for me, helped me again. She’s so soft and way too good to be with a fuck-up like me.”

“Sara, you know this isn’t true. You deserve love maybe more than anyone else for going through what you had to endure, okay?” Amaya’s voice was firm but still soft.

Sara managed a small smile to that.

“I just don’t want her to get hurt.” Sara exhaled a long breath within sighing.

“Then don’t hurt her, Sara. I know you can do that. Even if you’re a dumbass sometimes.” At Zari’s sudden comment Sara looked up to her friend and found her face with a look on it that was often hidden under her shell, she expression of a caring friend. “Just be as you are and I mean the version of you we got to see sometimes, the Sara deep inside of you buried under all the dirt of your past. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not, okay? Especially when she knows already things, you don’t have to pretend that everything is fine with you.”

“Thank you. I’ll try.” She smiled at Zari and Amaya, who smiled at her.

“You better do, because I’m not helping you when she breaks up with you when you’ve been a jackass to her.” With said words, Zari consumed the last bite of her doughnut.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

After her coffee with her friends, she went to the gym for her regular workout. Amaya had to work and Zari headed home to do some homework, so Sara was on her own.  
She just finished a warm-up session on the treadmill when she remembered she forgot to tell Ava the name of the gym she had told Ava about yesterday. She pulled her phone out and send her a text.

**You:** Hey u, hope u have a nice day :)  
**You:** I just remembered i didn’t tell u the gym’s name. It’s the wildcat gym and when u r there ask for amaya.

After a few minutes, her phone buzzed. She opened the text quickly, a smile on her lips when she saw Ava’s name on the screen.

**Aves:** Hey, work is great. How’re you? Thank you.  
**Aves:** I wanted to ask you when I get to see MY GIRLFRIEND again because I’m eager to ask her something ;)

**You:** I’m good but already miss you xx  
**You:** Now i’m curious  
**You:** Tell me Oo  
**You:** And i’m free at friday and saturday

**Aves:** I’m sorry but it’s a surprise ;). What about Friday? Dinner is on me when you come over ;)

**You:** I’ve never ate dinner from a girl, but sure, sounds fun

Sara had a wide smirk on her lips. The picture in her head was great and only increased her amusement. 

Her phone buzzed again. 

**Aves:** You… I meant, I cook us dinner when you come over!

She had to chuckle and a sudden idea hit her brain.  
She positioned herself in front of the mirror wall in the gym at took a picture of her flexed abs muscles. She sends it with a text to Ava, her charming-mode fully active by now. 

**You:** You could eat dinner off me then ;)

A pause. 

**Aves:** …  
**Aves:** …………

**You:** U okay?  
**You:** Did i break u? oO

**Aves:** Actually, yes because I LITERALLY CHOKED ON MY COFFEE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN IMPORTANT APPOINTMENT WITH THE MAYOR!!! I caught for the last three minutes!

**You:** I know i’m breathtaking but this much? Good to knw ;)

**Aves:** You…  
**Aves:** God, I don’t even know what to call you

**You:** God works but sara is just fine

**Aves:** …  
**Aves:** Why did I even like you?

**You:** Because i’m stunning, charming and hot?

**Aves:** Maybe. But just maybe xx  
**Aves:** Is Friday settled?

**You:** Yes. When should I show up?

**Aves:** Around 6?

**You:** Great. See u then xxx

**Aves:** See you then xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter :)
> 
> The "dinner on me"-dialogue was inspired by a smau I read on Twitter. Sadly I don't remember the author, but if someone knows which au I'm talking about write it down in the comments pls! It was really fun reading ^^
> 
> Have a nice day! :D


	8. Making The Right Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara tries to make things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm sorry you had to wait so long for an update. Last week I became ill suddenly and uni started properly for me. It was a tough week and I had barely time to write. BUT it's over now and I just finished editing.
> 
> I hope y'all like it. Also thanks again for comments and kudos! Your feedback is a big part of my motivation and I'm happy to share my stuff with you.

I’m gonna do it. I’ll tell him today.

There was nothing else Sara could think of the last days after she had spoken to Amaya and Zari about Ava. Her friend’s words ringing in her head.

'Don’t hide it from her.'

'Just imagine what will happen if they caught you one day.'

Even if the chance that the captain would get caught were low, she wouldn’t want to take the risk anymore, given the fact that Ava would definitely hear about the case, let alone the high chance that she would work on it.

Ava and she weren’t together for a long time, actually, two days, but yet they shared a strong connection. Something special between them that neither of them could place but it felt like both blondes were made for each other.

Until now, since Laurel died, Sara had no reason to be righteous, to be good. Nobody had cared for her the way Laurel used to do, to pull her out of crappy situations she got herself into. Though she considered the Legends as her family, they treated her different. Sometimes, Sara was more like a mother for Nate, Ray, Amaya, Zari and Nora. Rip, Gideon, Snart and Mick treated her more like a younger sister but always like a grown-up. They involved her in important decisions and other stuff about jobs.  
She would regardlessly die for them, jumping right to their defence when they all needed her. And they would all do the same for her, even if sometimes Sara refused their help because she felt like she had to do it all by herself. That she couldn't put her shit on them. Because in the back of her head, she still feared that they would leave her someday. 

Around Ava she wanted to be the best version of herself, she wanted to be the person Ava would go to if she needed someone, she wanted to be the only person Ava needed. The taller blonde encouraged her to be better, to make her a better version of herself, a healthier version. But she also felt like she could let her walls down in front of her, that she hadn’t always to be strong around the taller blonde.

This was all new to her. Almost too scary, but for once a time in her life, she would make it right. She wanted to make it right. 

And here she was, sitting in class, chewing on the end of her pen, thinking how to get out of her messy life, how to make it right.

She decided she would go to the bar later, after school and talk to Rip. Sara was sure he would understand. She wanted to go there anyway because of her briefing with Snart and Rip over their next target and the strategy they would use this time.

\------------------------------------------

She pulled her motorcycle into the delivery entrance of the bar, waving Mick who just picked up a crest with booze. He nodded towards her. Sara turned off the engine, lifting herself off the seat.  
They walked in silence through the entrance and Sara cached sight of Leonard, his pair of eyes was fixed on a monitor with building plans on it. Their next target, Sara assumed. She was too far away to gain sight properly but Rip had mentioned a new contract he fished out of the dark web.  
Mick left her side and walked over to the other part of the basement, stocking up the bar’s alcohol. She watched after him for a moment then walked to Snart, bumping his shoulder slightly with her fist.

“Hey, the plans for next job?”

“Yeah, seems to be pretty easy. You could take the lead again if you want.” He answered with his nasal voice, grinning his snartish smile.

Sara shifted from one foot to the other, her gaze falling to the ground, hoping Leonard wouldn’t notice it. She failed.

“Something off?” He catches her gaze, fixating his piercing eyes on her. Her mouth gaped but he started to talk again before words came out of her mouth.  
“It’s about your girlfriend, isn’t it?” His facial expression softened, almost smiling.

She hadn't told him about Ava or that they were together but probably Zari had told him. She nodded in response.

“I- I kinda thought about stop doing this. I mean, you’re all my family, but she’s a DA and I don’t want to lie to her. I wanted to tell Rip today. I know we just finished my training as team leader but I don’t know. I want to do the right thing, for once.” Suddenly she was afraid of disappointing him, them all. Her voice sounded smaller than usual.

“It’s okay, Sara. Like we said to you years ago, we don’t want you to end as a criminal.” He puts a hand on her shoulder, stopping her eyes from escaping his gaze. Her fear faded a little. “I’m pretty sure, Zari will stop too in the next few months. We all know Amaya doesn’t like this. Understandable, it’s dangerous, even if we’ll always protect you. You see that as you took the shot last weekend. Speaking of which, how’s it going with the wound?”

The captain was thankful for his change of topic, it loosened the tightness inside her chest that had built itself up in fear of disappointing her crew.  
“It’s good. Gideon did a nice job with the stitches. Still hurts a bit when I turn my upper body around.”

He nodded, eyeing her for a moment. “Tell Rip, he’s in his office. Someone called him a few minutes ago. It should be over by now.” His lips quirked up in a thin smile, somehow encouraging.

“Thanks,” she said to him, watching his eyes, showing honesty in hers.

He withdrew his hand from her shoulder, boxing softly against it. She left the basement, going up the stairs, heading to Rip’s office in the backside of the bar. She heard his British accent through the wooden door but could not hear another person speaking. He must still be speaking with the one who called him. She wanted to turn around, searching for Gideon or Snart to talk about or go cleaning her equipment, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard Rip talking about some sort of payment for the bar.

Something in her brain let her stay, overhearing the ongoing conversation, her mind getting more and more confused the wider her mind spiralled about the things he said.

“... payments are outstaying for the bar but right now I can’t pay you anything more. Friday is the next big job, I’ll be able to give you the money Then. At least for this month.”

It sounded like Rip would talk to his landlord, but he had always told them that he owned the bar and the flat above. And he had never talked about some other investments or liabilities they had. That doesn’t make sense. But Rip didn’t talk any further, the person on the other side was presumably speaking right now.

She wondered for another moment about what this might be or who it might be he was talking to, then was pulled out of her thoughts by Gideon, who just walked down the stairs which were leading up to their apartment.

“Sara, I didn’t hear you coming.” The British woman smiled warmly at her.

“Hi, Gideon. I wanted to talk to Rip, but seems that he’s busy.” The frown between her eyebrows grew deeper.  
“Hey, I always thought you and Rip owned this place, but he’s talking to some kinda landlord.”  
Her brain was still processing what she had overheard that she didn’t notice the other woman in front of her shifting from one foot to the other, her smile fading for a split-second.

“He was probably talking to one of our suppliers, they’re becoming impatient sometimes.” She rushed through the explanation, then waited a moment after she had finished. But before Sara could say something Gideon was talking again.  
“How was your date with Ava?” On her lips settled an easy smile.

At the sudden change of topic, Sara’s confusion increased for a moment but at Gideon’s mentioning of Ava’s name, her thoughts were immediately back on track, spinning around yesterday and the night before. The bewildered frown was washed away, the confused expression turning into a soft smile. Warmth spreading through her veins.  
“It was…”

Perfect? Life-changing? Too good to be true?

How could she describe it all in one word?

Was that even possible?

“It’s hard to describe in one word, actually. It was just wonderful, she’s wonderful. Probably more than I’ve hoped for.” Her voice sounded just as soft as her eyes were shining when Ava’s smile appeared in her mind.

Gideon’s expression became even softer. “I’m happy for you, Sara. You look mo-”

“Please don’t tell me I look more happy with her now. Literally everyone tells me that and it almost sounds like I’ve never laughed before I met her.” Sara rolls her eyes mockingly, though there was a hint of truth in her words.

She had never felt happier.

The older woman smiled warmly at her. “So what you gonna do? Obviously dating a district attorney isn’t the best choice while committing crimes nearly every week.”

“That was actually what I wanted to talk about with Rip and you. I think I’ll stop doing this.” She let out a dry laugh. “Ironic, I just had my first job as leader in field and here I am, stopping what I worked hard for a long time now.”

“Sara, it’s what is right. We all knew you’ll eventually have to stop.” Gideon looked her right in the eyes, her gaze warm, caring.

“Leonard said that too, but it still is weird in my head. I mean, am I still part of the team? Am I supposed to just be here and watch them throwing their lives right into the danger where I’m not able to watch their back?” The thought just hit her head and it felt a lot like she would close herself off of something she always was proud of. Her team. Her family.

“You’re never going to lose us as your family, Sara. Your relationship doesn’t change that. The only important thing is, you have to keep your head out of trouble, especially ours. Otherwise, you may find yourself in a situation where you have to choose between us and her.” A warm hand reached to Sara’s shoulder, reassuring her at this horrible thought in her mind.

“I know.” Her voice sounded devastated, she couldn’t quite say why but the emotional weight of her current situation and the decisions she had to make now hung heavy in her backpack.

“Sara, even if I didn’t had the chance to get to know Laurel, I’m sure she would be proud of you right now.” Gideon’s expression turned softer, fixing her eyes on the captain’s, looking at her fondly, smiling.

The sudden mentioning of her sister's name caught her off-guard, for a short moment she could feel her throat tightening, could feel the walls coming near her. She hadn’t processed the entire sentence, Gideon had said, but when she did, the upcoming panic stopped nearly in an instant. Her eyes stopped staring at the other woman and turned soft, smiling back at her.

“Yeah, maybe.”

It was hard to think about that, but maybe, Sara thought, maybe Laurel would be proud of her. Surely not for what she had done to get here, but for what she was about to do for her future.

Still, Sara couldn’t let her sister go, she still couldn’t forgive herself and she wasn’t sure if Laurel would’ve forgiven her either. But the thought of Laurel being proud again of something Sara was about to do warmed her chest. It eased the pain she always felt when Laurel was on her mind. Although, she’d gotten used to it.

“Gideon, do you think she would be still proud of me if I would stop visiting her grave every day?” The words came out of her mound, uncontrollable. Prompted by the sudden fear of disappointing her sister.

Her expression shifted another shade softer. “Do you really think, she wouldn’t be?”

“I- I don’t know. Ava slept at my place and this was the first time I didn’t jump out of some window or sneaked my way out to go to the cemetery when I was with someone. And the strangest thing is, the next morning I felt okay. How can I be when she is not? When she’ll be never okay again!”

The other woman squeezed her arm. “Sara, I think this is the best time for you to move on.”  
Sara was about to say something but Gideon beats her to it, knowing what the captain was about to say.  
“That doesn't mean, you have to forget her. You just have to know that she’ll live on in your memory, no matter what time and what place you’re on. She’s always with you.”

Gideon looked at her, knowing the right words to cut for a brief moment through her walls of defence. Long enough that she essence could find its way into the deep of Sara’s mind.

“Do you have still these voice mails she'd send you that night?”

Sara could only nod in response, like the rest of her body was frozen entirely, her breath beaten out of her lungs as the other woman mentioned the voicemails she had still on her phone.

“Now might be the right time to hear what Laurel had to say that night. She may tell you things that let you move on.”

She could never get her heart to listen to them. She knew she couldn't stand the contempt Laurel would have shown her. It was easier this way, easier not to listen to them when she was afraid of what she might hear than to hear Laurel pleading for Sara to answer her phone.  
“How could you be sure that I want to hear them?” Her mouth suddenly felt dry, her mind was blank.

“Sara, do you really think Laurel would’ve said despising things in her last moments?” 

Gideon’s hand squeezed her shoulder again, making the captain look up into her eyes, shock cracking through the walls. Hurt and vulnerability settled in her features, unable to mask them behind her anger. Right now this was too delicate to discuss. She didn’t want to think about this right now, she just wanted to erase all evidence of their existence in her head. Though she couldn’t push herself to delete the messages itself.

“Maybe you’re right, but maybe not. You didn’t know her. You said that yourself.” Sara nearly spits the last two sentences out. She couldn’t control the anger rising in her chest, covering up the hurt and embarrassment she felt at the memory from the still unheard last words her sister had said.

Gideon’s smile turned even softer. “It’s okay, Sara. It’s your decision but don't torture yourself with something that could help you get over all the things you had to endure. I’m sure it’ll be helpful.” The woman gave her shoulder one last squeeze, then turned her back on her and left the corridor, walking upstairs again.

The last words she said echoed in her mind and Sara was thankful for Gideon to give her the space, the letter knows she needed now. She walked in the opposite direction from where Gideon had gone and headed with as long strides as she could downstairs.  
With every step she took, she felt herself fall deeper in a hole made out of anger about Laurel and her own behaviour, the grief she couldn’t let go and the hurt she felt whenever Laurel occurred in her mind.

She barely heard Rip talking again, her senses were too caught up in the anger flooding through her veins.

The captain made her way back into the basement, she couldn’t see anyone. Her field of view narrowed. As she crossed the room, she picked up a pair of boxing gloves lying on top of a crest. After she put them on, she entered the small training area the team had set up over the years.

She made her way to the punching bag and began to throw punches at it. At first, she watched her stance, kept her guard up. But with every strike she threw at the bag hanging from the ceiling, her technique became sloppier, inaccurate. Sara gave the anger and pain space in her mind. Her ponytail loosened up, strays of hair sticking in her face, sweat running down her forehead, down along her cheekbone, dripping on the ground from her chin.

With every attack she made to the bag, the rage in her chest escaped through her clenched fists, subsiding and leaving the place for hurt and grief to settle in. The sweat was now accompanied by tears, mixing into a salty rain wettening her face, washing her emotions away.

Sara punched along for a few minutes until her muscles began to hurt and she couldn’t hold her arms up any longer. Normally she could go on for at least another ten minutes, but all the feelings being present increased her level of exhaustion rapidly and so she stumbled bag until her back hit the wall and collapsed against the cold stone, bringing her face down to her chest.

She didn’t move her body until she felt a hand on her knee. The small blonde looked up with puffy eyes. In front of her kneeled Gideon, one hand on her knee, letting warmth spreading through her body again and in the other a set of spare clothes. The letter smiled warmly at her, encouragingly.

“Come on, Rip is free now.” She winked at Sara and squeezed her knee softly. Lifting herself up, the woman turned her back on Sara and walked to the entrance of the room, waiting for her.

Sara changed her clothes quickly, feeling the muscles in her arms already getting sore. As she passed Gideon, they walked together in silence upstairs again to Rip’s office. Before she walked into his office, she pulled Gideon into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean that.” Her voice sounded hoarse, small in the room.

“I know, Sara. I know these things are delicate, but I still think they might help you. And now, go and do the right thing.” Gideon pulled away to look into Sara’s eyes, giving her an encouraging smile before shoving her into Rip’s office.

Sara walked in, breathing in a heavy breath. She found him sitting in his chair behind his wooden desk, the shelves behind him filled with endless books. On his desk stood a bottle with Scotch, like always, two glasses next to it. In one of it some of the amber liquid.

“Sara, hey, Gideon said you wanted to talk to me?” Rip said, his voice friendly and Sara could feel his eyes roaming over her, probably asking himself where the puffy eyes came from, but thankfully he didn’t ask. Instead, he opened the bottle and poured some of the alcohol into the second glass, assuming she could need a drink.

“Yeah, Rip. It’s important.” She wanted to do the right thing.

“Then go on.”

Sara sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs, where she and her team had spend many nights, drinking, telling stories and creating loveable memories.

“I assume, you know about Ava,” he nodded, “and the fact that I have feelings for her.” In an instant, she knows this was the right thing.  
He nodded again, his expression soft. It was more like talking to him like he was her dad than to him as her boss.  
“Ava and I got together yesterday.”

“That’s great, Sara! It’s literally the first time you have someone properly, I think. You deserve it.”

“It is, it’s been a long time and I’m happy to have her but there are two things about it. First, she is district attorney, you may already know this but combined with the fact that, secondly, I don’t wanna lie to her, I think I should stop doing jobs. For your good and mine.” Sara gets it out as quick as she could, though it hadn’t been quite so hard as she’d imagined it. It was almost easy when she thought about Ava and what could be, what hopefully would be.

The captain could see many emotions go through Rip’s face when she eyed him after she ended what she wanted to get out. She saw fondness, surprise, thoughtfulness and in the end worry.  
He began to wring his hands, then took a long sip from his drink. He almost downed it all in one. She couldn’t place his reaction. She anticipated disappointment, though she hadn’t really believed he would be, or a bit of sadness but worry wasn’t with the things she thought of.  
“When do you plan to stop?” His voice had a hint of despair in it. This wasn’t him, usually.

“What’s the matter, Rip? Here is clearly something off.” His reaction was strange and the phone talk he had earlier came into her mind. If the worry wasn’t about her, but about paying the bills, his behaviour would make much more sense. And it would explain the hint of distress with what he looked at her because obviously, he needed the money from the jobs to earn the needed money. The other person may have thought the job he talked about was about a gig of a band or a big event but in the next week wasn’t planned such things.

“Well, unfortunately, I need to pay back a loan.” Sara could see where this was going and internally sighed and screamed at the same time. “The loan I used to buy the Waverider. The guy I got it from is truly terrible. But I need the money from him and no one would give it to me. And now he wants his money back. We had a contract but I don’t think I can afford a lawyer to fight him with the law.” Sara’s muscles tensed slightly, she didn’t like the way where this was about to go. He was still wringing his hands, giving his appearance a haunted look. “I need the money from our business to pay him.”

“And now you ask me if I would do some last jobs so you get your money safely?” She sighed a little. This couldn’t be good.

“It would help me a lot. But you don’t have to. I don’t want to put your luck at risk for my stupidity back then.” She appreciated his concern about her relationship but she already made her decision.

“See, I don’t like where this is going, but you’re part of my family and I’m going to help you. So, how many more do you need?” Her voice sounded thoughtful, though she was a little annoyed, not by Rip but by the universe or whoever might hold the strings up there, for putting mountains in her way when she tried to find the right path.

“Four, maybe one more. But these four are the important ones. That should be enough money to pay him.”

Four. She could do that. She could try to schedule her dates with Ava around them. And when they were over she would never need to speak about this again.

“Alright. But after four I’m out. For good.”

“Thank you, Sara!” Relieve washed away the despair, he sucked in a deep breath.

“I owe you a lot, Rip. For you and Gideon taking me under your wings. I would do anything for you.” It was true, they were there for her when she ran away from home for good. Though she had planned it otherwise, she was glad that Rip told her the truth and that she could help him. But hopefully, she would be out after that.

“You owe us nothing, but I’m still glad for your help. I promise it ends after four for you and you don’t have to lead them, so you can spend time with your girlfriend.” He winked at her, holding up his glass with Scotch. The easiness came slowly back into the room.

“To family.” He said.

“To our family.” The hint of a smile came back to their features.  
She bumped her glass with his and he took a sip. Sara downed it all.

She had a bad feeling about this. But it was her family and she would do everything for them.

The only thing she hoped now, was that maybe one day her family would include Ava.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I hope, you liked this one. And also, I'm sorry for the angst, but it kind of just started :)
> 
> Tell me your thoughts, guesses, feelings or other stuff you like to share in the comments below :D I'm eager to hear all of them.
> 
> Also: I put two sentences in the last two chapters about Sara's scars. I wanted to write them in but forgot to do it. It's basically about Ava seeing them in chapter 6 but she didn't ask her because they're in the middle of making out and Ava remembering them when she says to Sara that she could tell her about her past when she is ready.
> 
> Hope you all have a nice day! <3


	9. I'm Not Going Anywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stuff at the Waverider happens, also Sara and Ava have a date night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's been a while :3  
> Uni started and I had writers' block for weeks.  
> But here I am :D
> 
> Thanks for beta reading to [LadyXana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyXana/pseuds/LadyXana) and [WardenRoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot)
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy the chapter!

Rip’s office was filled with comfortable silence. Sara and Rip sat in the armchairs, their drinks still in their hands, when they heard the door crack open. A moment later, Gideon entered the room, and Sara could already tell there was something off.

“What’s up?” Sara asked.

“Sadly there has been an incident with the job for this Sunday. Zari and I just found out about it.”

Rip and Sara exchanged a look, and both nodded. They pushed themselves off the armchairs and followed Gideon out of the office, heading downstairs.

Gideon fell in step with Sara and shot her a knowing smile. “So, you two came to an agreement then?”

Sara turned her gaze to her and answered Gideon’s kind smile with one herself, trying to shut down the upcoming worry. “Yeah. Rip told me about the loan and we agreed that I’m doing four more jobs, and then I’m out for good.”

Gideon’s smile turned into an understanding look and she decreased her speed a little, causing Sara to do likewise. “You’re still not happy with it, are you?”

For a moment, Sara was caught off guard by the question. She hadn’t expected Gideon to ask such things right away. But then again, they were family, and they watched out for each other. Also, Gideon seemed to have her eyes everywhere. So Sara ducked her head down a little and looked up with an apologetic smile. She also didn’t expect Gideon’s face to have a fond smile on it, with her insecurity taking over her mind for a moment.

“It’s okay, Sara. This is just a shitty situation for all of us. And we’re very grateful that you want to help us.”

Sara let out a chuckle - swearing Gideon was a rare thing. “I owe you guys. Like a lot. But,” she quickly continued, almost feeling that Gideon would say she didn’t need to pay them back anything, “that’s not my point. You’re my family and I help you, whatever is going on, okay? Just tell me right away next time.”

Gideon seemed to be a little relieved, as if she had believed that Sara was mad at them.

“Speaking of, you know Zari and I just could use our college money to help you out of this crap?”

“No, Sara, we’re not going to use that. It’s our mess and we have to clean it up. Somehow we have to be the role models around here.” She chuckled lightly, and it lifted an eyebrow.

They arrived at the basement where Mick, Zari and Leonard were already waiting for them.   
“Alright, Legends. Listen up.”

Rip stood in front of Sara, Gideon, Mick, Leonard, and Zari. Gideon and Zari had found an email while hacking through the prehistoric security system of the church, which said that an important bishop would visit the church on Monday. The problem was that the entire Sunday people would be working inside, and because this appointment was a last-minute thing, they would presumably be working the night through to clean everything up and prepare for some important church gathering.

The Legends had signed a contract for an ancient statuette of Mary. It wasn’t expensive though it had an emotional value to their client. They planned to steal it on Sunday night, and now they needed to come up with a new plan because the bishop wrote in his email that he would take the statuette back to Vatican City where it was safe. Somehow this was very ironic, Sara found.

“This isn’t what we planned for this one, but we got a contract with an important client who is interested in giving us some more jobs if we don’t mess this one up.” Rip sounded almost calm with this, _almost_. Sara and, she assumed, Gideon too, heard the small hint of worry as well as hope in his voice. She also didn’t miss the small glance he shot her when he mentioned more jobs, which she was sure was subconscious.

She shoved the upcoming feeling that this wasn’t going to end well into the back of her mind and concentrated on this mission. It had to go well. Otherwise, she could ruin her relationship with Ava. She was risking it already.

“I assume we do it Saturday then?" Leonard's nasal voice pulled Sara out of her thoughts.

"This would be the only logical step from now. We need tonight to sort things out and prepare gear and an exit plan in case we get caught,” Rip pointed out.

“Not gonna happen,” Mick said and took a long sip from his beer.

“I’d like to think so too, but apparently we can’t risk being caught, especially with Sara’s girlfriend as district attorney,” Rip answered and shot Sara a look. She stiffed at the mention of Ava. She was still not used to having a girlfriend, and even less tiptoeing around her to not get caught. And this was only the beginning of lying to her, Sara thought. She couldn’t let her in entirely until her job was done and she no longer had things to hide from her, it was too risky that she would drop hints of what she was doing in her free time.

“Okay then. The original plan was sneaking in on Sunday night, so why don’t you try to do the same on Saturday night?” Zari asked, and Sara was thankful that her friend changed the topic to the important thing at the moment.

“We could do that, it would be no problem. But Saturday night will be more difficult because of all the party people hanging around the inner city,” Leo said.

“They would be too drunk to even notice us, Snart,” Zari said while rolling her eyes.

“Right, and the church is open all night and the Father is presumably the only person hanging around at that time, so we only need to distract him—” Sara made a short pause— “and I already have an idea how.” She smirked to herself.

“Any plans to share your glorious idea with us common people?” Zari shot her a look as Sara didn’t explain further what got in her head.

“I think it’s time to confess some of my sins,” Sara said, and she couldn’t hold back another smirk.

“Well, you got plenty of them, so the lack of distraction is officially closed,” her friend answered with a dry chuckle.

“Do you really think this is gonna work?” came from Rip, and Sara could sense his body straightening when he expressed his doubts.

“What could work more efficiently to distract a priest than giving him exactly what he is longing for? To bring a damaged soul back to the light to prove there is at least something his religion is good for.”

“You’ve got a point.” Rip didn’t seem to be fully convinced, but Mick and Snart had checked out the church before they came up with their original plan to just sneak in when the church would be closed and steal the statuette. There was no extra security, like a glass cube around it or a cage dropping down if someone would touch it. Only an old alarm in case someone would enter the church during closing hours, and security cameras.

Zari could’ve shut down the alarm easily but if they pulled their job on Saturday there would be no need. She just had to put the cameras on a loop, and this she could do in her sleep.

So Sara, Snart, and Mick just needed to get in and wait for others to leave so that Sara could distract the priest and Mick and Snart could get out with the statuette.

This was almost too easy. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

_Fuck. Almost six pm._

Sara turned her gaze away from the watch on her wall and tossed her bag in the corner of the couch. She had been at _The Waverider_ all afternoon. The Legends had prepared their gear and checked their plan again, going through the details and testing the virus Zari would use to put the security cameras on a loop.

Sara grabbed her leather jacket with one hand, pulling her phone out of her back pocket with the other. The screen turned on immediately and showed two unread texts from Ava.

_**Aves:** Hey you, I can’t wait to see you later!! xx_

_**Aves:** Driving home now. Hope you’re fine! xxx_

The hint of worry in her last text made Sara’s heart grow in size, pumping warm blood through her veins. She typed in a quick response.

_**You:** Hey u, im good. Had some work stuff to do. Driving to u now. xx_

She grabbed her keys and pulled the door shut behind her, quickly locking it. Taking two steps in one stride, she made her way as quickly as she could down the stairs, always jumping the last four steps.

She nearly ran against the closed door of the building but came to a stop right in front of it. She let out a breath and pulled the door open, some cold, spring air crashing against her face, washing the sticky air from inside out of her pores.

Sara sprinted to her bike, jumping on it and starting the engine as quickly as she could. She was sure she had never been this fast. Not even during jobs. While the rumbling engine underneath her came to life, she put her helmet on, which she had almost forgotten about.

She didn’t become aware of the cool air around her, too drawn into her anticipation to see Ava again. To see her _girlfriend_ again.

During her conversation with Rip and her chat with Gideon, she hadn’t thought about their date tonight. The only thing she could think of was how to tell them that she would stop.  
And now, even though she still wanted to end her criminal career, she found herself in an even more complicated situation than before.

Rip and Gideon were family, there was no question she wanted to help them, but she just hoped it wouldn’t affect her and Ava’s relationship.

Too wrapped up in her thoughts, Sara almost didn't noticed that she was already in Ava's neighbourhood. She pulled her bike into the street which crossed the current one and overtook a woman on her bicycle.

She drove along the avenue for a few minutes, with the green crowns of the trees around her above her, the last glazing rays of sunlight of the day breaching through the leaves.  
She arrived at the parking space right in front of Ava’s house and manoeuvred the machine skillfully backwards into the space between Ava's car and her neighbour's.

She walked down the small path leading to the front door. A cold breeze rushed through her hair, tousling the loose curls. Sara pressed the bell, and she startled when the door was opened not even a second after she withdrew her hand.

Sara suppressed the urge to raise her fists to her defence, but still flinched away slightly.

Ava opened the door further, a bright, shining smile on her features, prompting a similar on Sara’s. Sara took a step forward and pushed herself on her toes, kissing her girlfriend gently on the lips.

The words still sounded foreign in her mind, tasting strange in her mouth.

Ava responded to the kiss with a small ‘humm’, leaning in more and nipping on Sara’s bottom lip slightly before she pulled back. Sara was already missing the contact and subconsciously took a step forward to follow the fading lips.

She lifted her gaze upwards and met a grin on Ava’s lips, turning into a soft smile when Sara looked at her properly. Ava curled her hand around Sara’s and pulled her inside.

Sara was pressed against the door the second it closed behind them, a fierce kiss pressed to her lips. Sara answered with a muffled moan, feeling heat crawling up her back.

She had missed Ava, the kisses they shared, the conversations they had, and the feeling of someone being near to her.

And it seemed that Ava had missed her too.

Sara couldn’t help but smile into the kiss when she noticed that Ava kissed her like that, not the other way around. This caused Ava to pull back a little, her head leaning against Sara’s.

"I missed you." The barely audible words sounded so sincere, so honest, that Sara couldn't deny the meaning behind them.

A shy smile flickered over Ava's features and Sara felt her heart pound harder against the inside of her chest. She almost feared it would burst right through it.

Within a second, the happiness she felt vanished. Driven away by one thought. 

_How could she even risk to hurt her?_

Something in her face must have switched, because Ava’s smile turned into a frown paired with a look of insecurity in her eyes. 

"Everything okay?" The question sounded self-conscious. Sara could tell Ava thought she did something wrong. Sara would have thought the same.

Sara cleared her throat. "Yeah." It came out hoarse. "Yeah, I just thought about…" Sara couldn’t think of something she could have said. And she was not going to use Laurel as an excuse. Besides that she couldn't bring herself to lie to Ava now. When she had been so sincere with Sara.

Thankfully, Ava seemed to sense Sara's discomfort and concluded something herself.  
"Is it about your sister?" Her voice sounded sincere and so kind again, it made Sara's heart ache.

Ava took Sara's hand and curled her fingers tightly around it. It would've hurt, especially with the rings on, but right now she was grateful for the contact. Even if she was alone with her thoughts, she didn't feel alone right now.

"You know, you don't have to tell me. But... I'll be right here when you need me." The softness in Ava's voice made her heart ache even more.

She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second to regain her composure. She sighed when she let the breath out, pushing her anxiety away. "I-I just thought about how wonderful you are and how fucked up I am and that you deserve someone way better than me." Technically it wasn't a lie. That's what she told herself.

Ava's frown turned into surprise just to turn right back into an even deeper frown. She lifted Sara’s hand up and pressed a tender kiss to her knuckles. Sara felt herself fall even deeper for the woman in front of her.

“I don’t know what causes you to think so, but that’s unimportant anyway, because you are great. We’ve been together for only a few days and I feel like I’ve never been this happy with someone before. You _saved_ me, Sara. That night could’ve turned out so so horrible if you hadn’t showed up there and kicked their asses. You are awesome, and I want you to see that too.”

Sara had a strange feeling in her gut. On one side, she was now even more conscious about how much it would hurt Ava when she would find out without Sara telling her. It would still hurt her, if it was Sara who would tell her, but Sara had a faint hope that Ava would see that Sara cared and that she wanted Ava to know about it.

On the other side, she was just so, so grateful for that stunning woman, that she rushed forward and placed a kiss on her lips. It helped to ease the tremor in her lips, and she almost failed to suppress the upcoming tears when she let herself be hugged by her girlfriend.

They shared a long moment of silent intimacy, both hugging each other. Sara’s head pressed against Ava’s chest and her ear listening to Ava’s steady heartbeat, slowly calming her down.

Ava only pulled away when Sara’s stomach decided to call for the food she hadn’t eaten at lunch. One of her eyebrows rose up, as if she were asking when Sara had had food the last time that day, her lips quirking up into a smile.

Sara ducked her head down, hiding the slightly embarrassed blush that rose in her cheeks.  
Ava lifted her head up, and Sara’s gaze met a fond smile lingering on Ava’s lips.

“Maybe we should start with dinner,” Ava said, but couldn’t hold back a chuckle. The beautiful sound of the light laughter made Sara’s lips turn into a smile immediately, and she just looked at Ava for a moment. If Ava had looked up in this particular moment she would have seen the softest smile someone had ever given her.

“That would be great,” Sara answered, smiling.

“Lucky for you, I finished just before you arrived,” Ava said and pulled Sara across the room with the hand she was still holding to where, Sara assumed, was the kitchen.

While she was tugged forward by her girlfriend, Sara tried to take in all the details of Ava’s furniture.

It was all minimalistic, but at the same time, cozy. There were a few pictures with people Sara didn’t know, one looked like a picture of Ava and her parents at her graduation at law school. Her house was filled with plants, and the rooms they passed by where all coated in plain, soothing colours.

After a short walk through the entrance hall, they reached the kitchen, and Sara could already smell the food. Her stomach rumbled once more.

“When was the last time you ate something today, babe?”

Sara had to think for a moment. “Lunch at school, I think. But I was on my feet all day so I didn’t have the chance to grab something to snack on. Besides that, I knew you would cook for us and I didn’t want to spoil my stomach with food right before we met.”

“Awww, that’s sweet,” Ava said as she booped Sara’s nose. Sara couldn’t help but smile while her whole body was flooded with Ava’s fondness.

“Let’s see what you made us. It smells delicious.”

“Any food would smell delicious now. Your body is literally screaming for food.”

“Yeah, but the eggs you made the other morning were the best eggs I ate in years, so there is no way this doesn’t taste good,” Sara pointed out.

Ava only chuckled in response as she opened the oven and pulled out something that looked like lasagne. They both smiled knowingly at each other.

While Ava prepared the food, Sara set the dining table in Ava’s living room. When both were ready, they opened a bottle of wine and started to eat. Ava had started a playlist with calm music on spotify, which made the already relaxed and pleasant atmosphere even better.

They joked around for a while, and Sara relaxed more and more, the conversation she had with Rip earlier and the way she snapped at Gideon moved to the back of her mind.

An unknown joyfulness settled inside her heart. A feeling she had left behind a long time ago, and now it was coming back.

“So, tell me. How was your day?” Ava asked her, a relaxed smile on her lips.

Normally the question would’ve pulled Sara right back into the darker corners of her mind and would’ve brought back all the things she tried so hard to forget about the earlier events of the day. But, somehow, all that didn’t happen.

She thought for a moment, trying to find words that weren’t a lie but would describe what was going on inside her. She wanted to tell Ava so badly, but it was for the better to tell her when Sara was all out and parted ways with the others. So she had to avoid the full truth, that was what she named it. Thinking she would lie to her girlfriend hurt too much.

“School was as boring as ever, and after school I was at the bar, the one where we were, you remember? I work there to earn the money for my apartment. I told my boss I’ll quit today, and we agreed I’ll work for the rest of the month.”

“Why do you want to quit? You seemed happy there.” Sara could hear the wonder in Ava’s voice. She had hoped that Ava wouldn’t ask questions, but on the other hand it showed that she cared, and on that Sara could focus. She would make it right.

“I like them, they’re some kind of family to me, but I hoped that we could spend more time then, and besides, that doesn’t mean I can’t see them anymore.”

“That’s cute, but you don’t have to quit your job for me.” 

_Yes, I have to._ She couldn’t suppress the thought. But before her mind could drag her further away from her girlfriend, Ava smiled warmly at her and took her hand, her warm fingers curling around Sara’s. She pressed a gentle kiss against Sara’s knuckles, just like she did before, and Sara felt warmth rushing through her veins.

Sara hated this, _not telling the truth,_ already.

“Besides that. How are you gonna pay for your apartment?” That wasn’t something Sara had thought of.

“I don’t know yet. Maybe I’m gonna look for a job that doesn’t require late night shifts.”

“I could see if we need a new part time assistant at work. You could store files, bring coffee, kiss your girlfriend in the bathroom when no one is looking, copy stuff. All the normal things, you know?”

At first, Sara could have let out a dry laugh, it was almost more than ironic, but when Ava continued, she couldn’t help but smile.

“I would love to do that. Especially the kissing part. And I’ll keep it in mind.” She smiled warmly at Ava and was mesmerized by her greyish-blue eyes for a moment.

Both women talked further, enjoying each other’s company and the absolutely delicious food Ava had made for them. And just when Ava finished her story about the case she was currently working on, Sara remembered that Ava wanted to ask her something.

“Babe?” Sara asked while Ava shoved the last bite of lasagne in her mouth. She stopped mid way and turned her gaze towards Sara, and the latter couldn’t help but find the situation cute. The way her hair fell down on one side of her face, the surprised, and a little sheepish look in her eyes. The way she cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed, and straightened her back when Sara could just stare at her for a moment and admire how beautiful she looked.

“What’s up?” Ava asked when Sara didn’t continue after her question.

“You said you wanted to ask me something. I’m curious, so what was it?” Sara hadn’t felt insecure or self-conscious when Ava had texted her that she wanted to ask her something. But now, with her failed attempt to turn her life around today, and fear that something would go wrong nagging in the back of her mind, she was almost afraid of what Ava would have to say.

“There is this event next Saturday, the day after the party with your friends, it’s the annual police ball. They also invited some attorneys and other more important people, and I’m allowed to bring a plus one. So do you want to come with me?” Ava’s voice became more and more shy as she spoke, at the end she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looked shyly into Sara’s eyes, but she was only met with a fond smile.

Meanwhile, Sara became more and more relieved when she saw where this was going. The fear about everything Ava could have said vanished and was replaced by warmth spreading out, reaching every inch of her body.

“I would love to go with you.” Sara gazed at Ava with a soft look in her eyes, and she felt herself soften as she spoke. 

“That’s great. I’ll text you the details when I know ‘em,” Ava replied with a smile on her lips. “May I add that it’s a masked ball, a fancy one.” She winked at Sara and shot her a cheeky grin. Sara couldn’t wait to see Ava in a dress, let alone dancing with her, meeting her people.

The only thing she hoped for now was that she had changed too much for her dad’s colleagues to remember her. But with Ava by her side, she was certain she could go through the night without backing down. 

\--------------------

Sara and Ava laid in Ava’s bed, watching the new season of ‘Lucifer’ on Netflix. Sara laid with her head on Ava’s lap while the latter stroke through her hair. Every once in a while, Sara had to suppress moans that were longing to escape her mouth to show how much she loved this sweet and simple gesture. Sometimes, Sara would pull up her head to meet Ava’s gaze and then place a gentle kiss right on her lips.

It felt like they had never done anything different, like they had done this for years, instead of being together for only a few days. Sara felt calm and let herself willingly be pulled right into the comfy atmosphere. Normally, she wouldn’t give up her defences around people or lay down in their lap. Normally, she would be the big spoon, even if they were taller than her. Normally she wouldn’t even be in this situation. But she enjoyed it. She _loved_ it.

The more the minutes passed by, the sleepier Sara felt, her eyes becoming heavy and her mind drifting further away. The constant stroking caused her body to relax even more. She could feel her muscles relax and warmth coating all over her skin. Sometimes a shiver ran down her spine when Ava’s fingers made their way tenderly through her soft locks.

They remained like this a little longer, at least it felt like that to Sara, but in truth, she drifted off to sleep and woke minutes later. The safety she felt around her, the comfortable feeling, the calmness with how Ava treated her, the soft looks and the tender kisses they shared, filled with love, let Sara drift off to sleep quicker than usual.

Ava placed a gentle kiss to her temple, to which Sara only responded with a quiet _”humm_.” Ava smiled warmly at her, a fond look in her eyes when Sara turned around in her lap and pulled the blanket to her chin. Ava whispered in Sara’s ear when she noticed that Sara stirred awake for one moment.

“Close your eyes, babe. I’m not going anywhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, what do y'all think?  
> I'm eager to hear your thoughts :D
> 
> Also:  
> I'm doing National Novel Writing Month this year (it started yesterday). The goal is to write 50k words during November, you can check my progress [here](https://nanowrimo.org/participants/zeered/projects/doubled-whiskey-lot-avalance).
> 
> And while waiting for the next chapter check out the Avalance one-shot I wrote to overcome my writers' block :P (I heard rumours there's a second part coming 👀)


	10. Paralyzed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends doing their next job, Sara's first of four last jobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> Big thanks to [LadyXana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyXana/pseuds/LadyXana) and [WishingTree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree) for beta reading.
> 
> Also a **triggerwarning** for homophobic priests and statements. Just skip the part where Sara sits in the confessional and start reading again when _“Sara, we’re done here,”_ comes. Or when the italics set in.
> 
> And I may note that I have absolutely no idea how the whole confessional thing works. Correct me if you feel the need to do so and I'll change the mistakes I made ;)

Sara woke up to a bright light shining in her eyes, and for a brief moment, her muscles tensed because she couldn’t remember where she was. Nothing looked familiar around her, but when she swivelled her head, her gaze fell on the woman lying beside her. Immediately Sara remembered where she was and who she was with and her muscles relaxed. 

Ava’s hair all over her face and stunning as always. Sun rays falling through the window enlightened her blonde hair, cascading over her silhouette laying on the mattress. Her mouth slightly agape, light snoring escaping every once in a while. It made Sara’s heart warm even more. Thinking, she could definitely wake up to her every morning.

Letting out a breath, she noticed how entangled their legs were and smiled. Then she looked at the clock on Ava’s bedside table and saw it was almost eleven a.m.. They had been awake all night, and though Sara usually didn’t mind, today was the first of her last jobs. She would need to get to the bar, prepare her gear, maybe take another nap, and pull out the SIM-card of her phone.

Ava hadn’t moved the entire time, and Sara assumed she was still fully asleep. She had probably been up longer than Sara, and she couldn’t bring herself to wake her. At least she couldn't remember seeing Ava falling asleep before her. 

Sara untangled her legs from Ava’s and rolled to the opposite side of the bed, trying her hardest not to wake her, but just when Sara went to sit up, the taller blonde stirred awake and let out a grunt.  
Sara bit back a smile and got up, walking around the queen-sized bed and kneeling next to Ava’s head.

“Where you wanna go?” Ava asked, her voice thick from sleep as she blinked and looked up at her with half-lidded eyes.

“I need to get to work, babe. Turn around and go back to sleep,” Sara whispered in her ear. Ava giggled lightly, and Sara placed a gentle kiss on her temple just like Ava had done to her last night. And just like Sara, Ava hummed in response and closed her eyes as Sara’s lips touched the thin skin on her temple.

“Okay, but I need another kiss. That one doesn’t count,” Ava said, her eyes still closed and the words slurred a bit as if she were tipsy.

Sara smiled, endeared by the sleepy woman in front of her. She leaned in and placed a long, gentle kiss on Ava’s lips to which the latter replied with a muffled moan. Sara couldn’t hold back the smile, so her lips quirked up mid-kiss. A cute blush crept up Ava’s cheeks when she felt Sara smile into the kiss.

“You’re allowed to go now,” Ava said, smiling sheepishly when Sara pulled back to look her in the eyes.

Sara chuckled as she answered, “Thanks, babe. I’ll text you, but don’t worry if I don’t reply until tomorrow. Some important things are going on tonight.”

“Okay, but be safe.” The level of caring Ava showed with only four words brought warmth to Sara’s heart and her features settled into an even softer smile than before.

“I promise.” 

She knew she couldn’t promise such a thing, especially when she did a job that could go wrong in so many different ways, but she always tried her best to not get herself in more danger than necessary. Now she had someone she could come home to and she would be extra careful to hold her promise, because she wouldn’t want to disappoint Ava even more.

“Gotta go, have a nice day.” She kissed her one last time and hoped it wouldn’t be the last time she was able to do that. Having slept in a borrowed shirt and sweatpants from Ava, Sara quickly put on her clothes from last night and took her phone from the bedside table. Afterwards, she made her way downstairs and grabbed her leather jacket, writing a quick note for Ava that said ‘ _The day was beautiful, hope we’ll do that again soon xx_ ’ and putting it on the coffee table in the living room.

She put her shoes on quickly and made her way to the front door, opening and closing it as quietly as possible behind her. Even if Ava possibly wouldn’t have heard the door, Sara didn’t want to put her sleep at risk.

Making her way to the spot where she had left her bike, she put her helmet on and straddled the bike, starting the engine and pulling out onto the street. 

About twenty minutes later, she arrived at her apartment, immediately hitting the shower and changing into new clothes. When the captain was ready, she pulled out her phone for a last quick view of her new messages, seeing two new ones from Zari.

_**Z:** Lance the others invited us over for lunch today_

_**Z:** you comin?_

She replied with a short ‘ _Yes_ ’ and locked her phone again.

It was then that another message came in, and a smile immediately spread across Sara’s face at the sight of her girlfriend’s name.  
_**Aves:** Last night was great, see you in the next days? xx_

A smile settled on her lips when she quickly typed in a response.

_**You:** It was <3\. Sure text me when u know when u r free. Gtg see u xx_

After turning her phone off, Sara pulled out the SIM-card and laid it on her bedside table for tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to see Ava again, and she had seen her only a few hours before.

When all the lights were turned out, her phone was turned off and she stuffed her backpack with spare clothes for the next day, Sara left her apartment, locking it and making her way downstairs  
Wanting to get the job done as quickly as possible, Sara hurried to her bike, starting it and crossing the few streets that separated her apartment from the bar.

When she arrived, she could see Mick and Zari’s cars in the parking lot nearby. She parked her bike between the two cars and crossed the street to the delivery entrance where Mick was waiting with a crest of what she assumed was booze for their storage. Or it was the crest where they would put the statuette in.

She followed him inside and exchanged a brief nod, followed up by a brofistbump as a greeting. Down in the basement, Gideon was checking the tech with Zari and Rip, talking to Leonard.

“Hello, y’all,” Sara said with a smile towards Gideon and Zari who just turned their attention towards Mick and her when they entered the room.

“Hi,” was the answer she received from Rip and Snart while Gideon shot her a warm smile and Zari nodded at her. They all exchanged quick hugs and took the opportunity to catch up. 

The Legends ate lunch as they talked through the last few details, Gideon having ordered Chinese food from a restaurant nearby. This was almost too easy, but one could never be too careful in this business. Too many things could go wrong.

When they finished, Zari and Gideon made one last check on the virus they would use to set the cameras on loop and breach through the security system. Meanwhile, Sara prepared her gear; She would be going in normal clothes, just like Snart and Mick this time, but she always kept an extendable baton with her when they had to go without proper coverage for their identity. Even though she was a more than decent fighter in hand to hand combat, she always felt the need to have at least one weapon with her.

It was now late in the afternoon, Mick and Rip were watching some football game and Zari was busy doing stuff on her computer, while Sara talked about school and her night with Gideon. The latter seemed happy that Sara could still find comfort in spending time with her girlfriend, even if she couldn’t tell her the truth yet.  
But at least she was working on it.

“Gideon, have you and Rip thought about telling Zari and Nate too? And do Leo and Mick even now about all this?” The thought had come into her mind yesterday, but she wasn’t able to ask her when they had to discuss the changing in their plan. Although Sara thought it would be right to tell them all because they were still part of this, she didn’t want to take that away from them or make a decision that wasn’t hers to make.

“We considered it but hadn’t the chance to talk properly about that. But I think we’re going to tell them. And no, Mick and Leonard don’t know about it either,” she answered and Sara could sense the slight discomfort Gideon felt about this whole thing.

“I’m gonna wait to tell them the reason why I’m doing the last four jobs with you guys, but I’ll tell them later that I’m going to stop doing this. I need them to know. I don’t want to lie to the people I love more than necessary.” 

Thinking about lying to Ava made her heart ache, and thinking about not telling either Zari, Nate, Mick or Leonard the truth made it even more painful.

“Thank you, Sara. For leaving us the choice. And I’m glad that you’re gonna find your way in this world,” Gideon said fondly, a sincere, almost motherly smile on her features.

“Took me long enough,” Sara replied, smiling back at her.

Gideon let out a chuckle. “Yeah, but what counts at the end of the day is that you find it.”

Sara could only smile to that. She was afraid to imagine a future for her and Ava that would go further than to the moment, when she would tell her about this but she had hope. Hope that they would stay together, that Ava would like her enough, would love her enough to accept Sara even with that, and let her try to become someone better than who she was now.  
She was scared, but also hopeful and so thrilled about what laid on the road ahead.

\------------------------------------------------------

“Listen up, team,” Rip called out, causing the Legends to gather around the table.

“We’re starting now, so make sure you got everything you need and that everything is at peak performance. This might sound simple, and if everything goes as planned, it will be. But if we mess up, there is nothing that covers your faces, your identities. Everything has to go as planned, but we made it until here without any problems so we’re gonna make it,” Sara said, earning little cheers from her team. 

She would miss this. She would miss the feeling of being part of the wonderful team she was blessed with when she needed people like them the most. It was her family. A messed up one, but still the best she could ever ask for.

“Good call, Captain,” Leonard said, nodding towards her.

They scattered to check on everything for the last time. Then, when all was ready, Rip, Sara, Snart, and Mick made their way to the delivery entrance where their van was waiting for them.  
They verified their comms one last time, checking the line to the basement and to Gideon and Zari who would operate from there. 

Everything was ready.

Rip started the car and pulled it quickly to the freeway, heading to their target location. During the ride, Snart kept checking his weapon. He treated it as if it was his own child. No wonder, it was what made him so unique in the lines of all criminals besides his sharp instincts and spontaneous mind which was pretty helpful if something wasn’t following their plan.

She would miss having him around with his snarky comments and quick mind. She would miss having all of them around like this. Like she would Mick, like she would miss anyone in her _team_. Sara knew she would still have them around, being the dorks they were. But being friends was different from being a team. They would rush upon the adrenaline waves together, watch each other’s backs, making retorts about things that they had done wrong. She missed this already, but at the same time she was grateful for having these memories. And she was even more grateful for having Ava.

They were driving around a corner when Zari’s voice sounded through the comms. “Alright guys, next cross take the left and then around the right corner. Then you arrive at the opposite street side.”

“Understood,” Rip answered.

Sara took in an almost shaky breath. A light tremor crept its way into her hands and she immediately closed her eyes. This wasn’t the adrenaline.

_It’s simple._  
_There is nothing that can go wrong._  
_Ava is not gonna find out until I tell her._  
_She would not leave me._  
_It’s only a matter of time before this is all less complicated._  
_I can do this._

“You arrive in one minute. Get ready,” echoed through the line.

Sara inhaled another shaky breath. She needs to calm down, spiralling now was something she couldn’t deal with right now. She needed to stop herself from worrying about what could possibly go wrong. She needed to breathe.

In.  
And out.  
In.  
And out.

In.  
_‘Last night was great.’_

Out.  
_‘Kiss your girlfriend in the bathroom when no one is looking.’_

In.  
_‘I’ve never been this happy with someone before.’_

Out.  
_‘I’m not going anywhere.’_

As she heard Ava’s voice soothing her, the tremors eased away. Her breath steady as ever, the warmth Ava gave felt like an armour around her, and nothing could get through it. Nothing could hurt her.

“Last comm check. Do you copy?” Zari asked.

“Copy,” answered Rip who was driving the van. He gave a short nod to the back and Sara returned it. Mick grunted as usual if something didn’t require proper words and Snart smiled his snarky smile at him before turning his gaze to Sara.

“We got this, Cap.” The determination he said it with reassured her even more. Her team still got her.

“The cameras on the whole block are on loop now,” Gideon said through the comm.

“Copy that,” answered Snart.

A few moments later the van stopped. The night was cold, the street enlightened by the few streetlights and small groups of people walked on the sidewalk. Most of them were already drunk or well on their way. Sara assumed they were all heading to the club nearby.

The church itself was located on the outer rims of the Glades. This neighbourhood wasn’t as dangerous as the rest of the Glades, but still shoplifting and break-ins of the wealthier homes happened.

Mick, Snart, and Sara got out of the van, leaving their weapons behind and crossing the street quickly, keeping their heads down.

Once more Zari’s voice echoed through the comm, “Remember, all cameras are on loop. I’ve got no eyes inside.”

“Understood,” answered Sara.

When they entered the small church, a quick scan showed that there were two other people inside besides the priest, an older woman and who Sara assumed to be her husband. They sat on the second pew on the right side with the priest in front of them, and all three stayed wrapped up in their conversation.

Sara turned her gaze away, activating her comm, “Two people plus the priest inside, I’m getting in position.”

“Copy,” answered Zari while she got nods from Mick and Snart.

Turning and crossing the room, Sara laid eyes on the statuette they were looking for. It was small, 30 centimetres high, and the colour seemed to be old, chipped off at a few places. Sara had read that it was over 200 years old and had never been properly restored. 

She saw how Mick and Snart made an attempt to look like tourists, eyeing all the fancy stuff this church had and reading the signs of description, and the sight made her chuckle. Them being tourists was absolutely ridiculous.

Sara entered the confessional and activated her comm once more, “I’m in position.”

“Copy,” Snart answered. “The priest is still with the two others but they seem to have reached the end of their conversation.”

She tried to make herself comfortable in the small chamber but it was incredibly hard, making her feel as if she was living her entire life wrong, doing nothing righteous. And now she was sitting in here, waiting for the priest to show up and listen to all the things she had done wrong in the past. Like she waited for a judge sentenced her to death.

This thing wasn’t build to make people feel better, it should make them feel even worse. It made Sara feel smaller, as is she doesn’t matter at all.

“He’s coming over to you,” Snart’s nasally voice echoed through the comms.

“Copy that, time to tell some sins.”

Alright.

_You got this._

She heard the door open and the old wood creaks when the man sat down beside her, between them only the wooden wall and a small opening to speak through.

She heard how the man cleared his throat, and it made her shift in her seat.

“You’re here for the first time, aren’t you?” The voice was almost annoyingly calm, almost smug. It made Sara feel even more uncomfortable but now with a hint of reluctance.

“Yes, I thought it was time I confess some things,” she said, trying not to sound as insecure as she felt but also without sounding snarky, as that could blow her cover.

“Okay, kid. What do you want to bring to God so that he can bless your soul and take your sins from you?” She already heard the judgement in his voice.

Sara decided to go with the most obvious thing for herself. She didn’t care what he would think so she just ripped off the band-aid. “I love both, men and women.”

He inhaled a sharp breath and Sara almost laughed, biting back the sound. “Sacrilege. It's such a terrible thing, disgusting and truly unnatural. But thankfully our community offers help with such perversions like that. Praying to God won’t help with that.”

If she wasn’t in this situation right now, she would be really tempted to punch him in the face. But for the sake of the plan and their cover she tried to remain calm, making her voice sound as if she was really considering this, which was incredibly hard. “I’ll think over it. Thank you father,” she said, through gritted teeth. 

“We’re going to start now,” echoed through her comm.

“But that wasn’t all you wanted to share, was it?”

She had to keep him occupied, so she goes with the next thing she could think of right now. Laurel. Sara had started to think about her the moment she had entered the small wooden chamber, guilt creeping into her bones.

“I-I,” she had to clear her throat, swallowing down the lump that was stuck inside. She inhaled another shaky breath, trying to regain her composure. “When… When I was 15 I betrayed my sister by… by sleeping with her boyfriend. I was so greedy, and envious. I wanted to have him all for myself and then she was… When she found out she ran away. And was murdered,” Sara barely managed to get the last sentence out of her mouth. She could feel her eyes tearing up, blurring her vision already. “I never got to tell her that I love her again.” 

Her throat became tighter and tighter, she had to press the words through. “She was murdered that night because of me, and now I think she hates me-” Once she opened the long-closed door in the back of her mind, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from spiralling. She couldn’t hold them back. “She is dead because of me. I murdered my sister and I feel guilty about that every day.” The defeat washed over her.

“Sara, we got the target, heading to the van now. Keep him occupied for a few more seconds,” Snart said, but Sara couldn’t hear him anymore.

A tear dropped on the ground when she ducked her head in the shame she felt.

“It’s truly a terrible thing to have longings for the partner of your sister. And that cannot be forgiven in a second but another person decided to end her life. That was not your choice. ” The calmness, almost unbothered of his voice made her almost crazy. How could someone be so okay with what she had done? How could he not even care? Why didn’t he scream at her, blame her for killing Laurel? She wished someone would do that, to express what she felt inside her.

“The dead are dead, but you are not. You live now, honour your sister by living a sin-free life, a better life. Without women in your bed but with a religious, good man.”

This was exactly something Laurel would say. Despite the thing with the thing about her sexuality. Laurel never even got the chance to know. Sara never got to tell her. She had never had the chance to tell her about her crush on Felicity, or her first real love and relationship with Nyssa.

“Sara, we’re done here,” echoed through her comm again. But she couldn’t hear Rip’s voice.

She couldn’t say anything, couldn’t hear anything. Sara didn’t even notice when the priest left the confessional.

The only thing her mind played over and over again was the moment her phone rang that cursed night.

_Sara’s phone lay at Oliver’s bedside table. She had insisted on that in case her parents would call her and ask where the hell she was. He had agreed reluctantly._

_Oliver kissed his way downwards on her stomach when suddenly her phone started ringing. Sara startled a little which caused Oliver to smirk at her, obviously delighted by the girl laying down in front of him._

_“Don’t answer, if it’s important they’ll call again,” he said, his smile sweet and his voice seductive. She smiled back at him and nodded while he continued his way downwards. But the phone didn’t stop ringing._

_“Maybe I should at least see who it is,” Sara said._

_“Or we can continue what we started,” Oliver replied and kissed her neck, making Sara’s head spin for a moment. Then the phone stopped ringing. Sara let out a small relieved breath._

_The silence lasted only for a minute._

_“Now I really should check who it is. If it’s Dad, he’s gonna kill me,” Sara said hesitantly, fearing what Oliver might think._

_“Okay but only if it’s important,” he sighed and pulled back a little so Sara could move._

_She took her phone from the bedside table, turned it around and saw a picture from Laurel and her on the screen._

_“Who is it?”_

_“Laurel,” Sara said, thinking if she should pick up._

_“So since Laurel is not your dad…” His sentence remained unfinished by words but his attempt to wipe off the silk robe she was wearing, to have at least something to cover her bare skin, made clear what he wanted from her._

_Meanwhile Sara’s gut told her to pick up. She had the feeling something was wrong and she should answer her phone. Laurel wouldn’t call this late if it wasn’t something important._

_“Olli, I - I think I should pick up,” she said while he kissed her jawline, then her neck and then her cleavage. “Laurel wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important.”_

_“What are you? Five?” He looked at her, smiling with a hint of boredom in his voice when he spoke further, “You can make your own decisions, Sara. You’re old enough.”_

_He was right. But still she had the feeling she should pick up._

_“C’mon Sara,” he said, but his voice was muffled when he kissed right above the right cup of her bra, and it sent a shiver down her spine. “Laurel can wait.” He kissed above the left cup. “This is the only important thing right now.” He kissed the crook of her neck and she giggled when his breath made her skin tingle._

_“Alright,” she said, convincing herself that he was right. So she giggled again and threw her phone to the other side of the room, thrilled about what this night might bring her._  
_This all was so new to her. She was too excited by the intoxicating feelings, the risk of getting caught, and it didn’t let her think clearly._

_Sara didn’t hear the ringing stop once more, the sound absorbed by the clothes Sara had thrown the phone on top of it. She also didn’t hear the following call, the last one she would ever receive from Laurel. If she would just have picked her damn phone up, Laurel could still be alive, but Sara had been too selfish for that. And she hated herself every day for not picking up._

The world around her seemed to pass by as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button. She couldn’t move, couldn’t hear what happened around her. Neither could she hear the voices calling, then shouting, then screaming through the comms. The only thing she heard was the ringtone of her phone in her head, the sound that could have saved Laurel’s life. The sound that sentenced her to death.

The situation got her so wrapped up she didn’t hear the priest let out a scream then start yelling. She couldn’t hear how he called the police outside of the small chamber she was stuck in.  
Luckily he seemed to have forgotten that she existed, but still she needed to get out of there. She couldn’t risk getting caught or being ordered to testify. But she couldn’t think about any of that.

She didn’t know exactly how long she was stuck in her anxiety attack before she heard a different ringtone breaking through, a real phone call interrupting the one that played on and on in her mind.  
When her brain caught up with her surroundings and the fact that she was still in the middle of a job, she quickly picked it up.

“Sara, you need to get out of there, right now!” Zari’s voice sounded stressed, filled with emotions which was a rare thing for her, sending immediate waves of adrenaline through her veins.

“On it Z,” Sara answered, worried what was going on and realising that she had completely lost track of time. She ended the call and sat up quickly, cautiously pushing the door open and eyeing around the corner to gain a proper view so she could decide which approach would be the best to get out of here. She saw the priest running around, his head in his hands and talking about something she couldn’t overhear. He seemed too deep wrapped up in himself that Sara decided to move out now, taking the potential last chance she had to get out of here before she would bring unwanted attention to herself.

She turned her gaze to where she was going, the entrance right in front of her, hoping he was still too caught up in his anger and despair that he wouldn’t notice her. Five metres, four, three… She looked over her shoulder to the priest who stood with his back to her, while her feet carried her forward. 

And she was out. 

She took in a deep breath while running over the street, dodging a man on a bicycle who yelled at her. Sara was still was a little offbeat, caused by the anxiety attack she had. Breathing still a bit faster than usual and she felt her hand searching for the baton in the inner pocket of her jacket. Relieved, when her fingers brushed over the silhouette. Her thoughts still cycling around Laurel but Sara tried to push them down. Fighting it back to gain control over her mind.

On the other side of the street she could see Mick opening the side door of the van so she could hop right in. Sara heard the engine start and increased her speed, reaching the sidepath, then jumped into the car.

“Just in time, Sara!” Rip said, his voice distressed. He pulled the car on the street. For a moment it seemed that they were out of the danger. But soon they realised they were wrong when a police siren came to life right behind them.

“Shit!” Rip drove faster, pushing the engine to its limits while overtaking cars in front of them, the police car nearing behind them.

Rip took in a sharp breath when he drifted around a corner, nearly crashing into a parked car. The police car followed them, a second one joining the chase.

“Rip, take the next left and then right at the next crossroad,” Zari’s voice echoed through the comms.

“On it,” he said through gritted teeth. He did as Zari told him, taking the next left, and then headed to the right side and took a sharp drift into the next neighbourhood. The triangle. Luckily for them there was much more traffic on the street, and the police cars had a hard time keeping up with them, at least for a moment.

“Okay. Rip, drive further until you reach the rails, lower your speed a bit and increase when I say, alright?” Zari’s voice sounded a little less confident than usual, and the thought about what Zari and Gideon had planned sent an unwelcome shiver down Sara’s spine. These were the types of things that people would only see in action movies, and Sara was not thrilled.

“Understood,” Rip answered. Using the train as a barrier between them and the cops could work, but it had to be timed right and could go so, so wrong if they made any mistake. While Rip pushed the van forward, overtaking cars to keep a distance between them and their pursuers, Mick and Snart looked at each other and Sara couldn’t think of a time when she had ever seen a hint of worry in their always relaxed faces.

“We can make it,” Sara whispered, loud enough for them to overhear, although she said it mostly to keep her composure. 

“We never pulled a stunt like that but we did other things, of course we can make it,” Snart replied, shooting her a snarky grin, and it eased the blood rushing through her body at least a bit.

“Rip, now increase your speed. You got enough time, trust me.” Zari’s voice echoed through the comms again.

Sara felt the speed with her blood rushed through her veins increased once more, how the adrenaline let her heart beat what felt like a million times faster. They had been in situations like this before, being chased by the police but they were never this close. They never had to pull such a stunt to get them off their tails.

Sara could see the rails through the front window, turning her gut around when she heard the horn the train approaching. The gates at the rail started coming down towards the street.  
Sara took a sharp breath in, and suddenly she found herself thinking about Ava. About her greyish-blue eyes, about her blonde locks, about her lips, about her smile. _God_ she missed her smile. The thought about last night, about how they woke up entangled in each other, about how Ava’s lips felt against hers.

The rails were getting closer. Rip increased the speed, the two police cars close behind them, and the train’s horn echoed through the street again. Sara could hear it coming. They were about ten metres away from them when one police car tried to overtake the cars in front of it to get closer to the Legends’ van.

Five metres away. The police car was now right behind them. Sara heard Rip swear under his breath, accelerating again and trying to shake the car off.

Two metres.

One.

Then they were on the rails. Sara could feel the train rushing closer, hear the warning horn. She heard a car urgently pulling the brakes behind them. And then they were over the rails, the train rushing over the street behind them.

Sara - and she was sure the other three too - let out the breath she had been holding since Zari told them her plan, relaxing her tensed muscles and murmuring a quiet _’Shit’_ under her breath. The silence in the car was disturbed by Zari’s cheers through the comms.

That was so close, almost too close.

They drove right away out of the town to their third safe house near the road to Central City, Zari guiding them around the police barricades and patrolling police cars until they arrived at the small cabin in the woods. They needed longer than usual, but Sara thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially today.

They got out of the car and packed the small statuette inside a box, which they locked and stored in the small car parked in the shed next to the cabin, as Mick and Rip changed the number plates on the car.

After finishing with the car and changing clothes, they sat together in the small living room.

“I need a drink,” Sara said, earning nods from her teammates. She really needed to get drunk and not talk about her feelings at the moment. She would deal with what happened in the church later - if she would deal with it.

They sat together outside, wrapped up in blankets. Rip was talking to Gideon on the phone after contacting their client, Mick roasted some chicken with his Heat Gun for them all as a midnight snack. Meanwhile, Sara and Snart were on the best way to get drunk together.

For a moment Sara looked up in the night sky, stars shining brightly. The silent woods, the absence of any other sounds than the small breeze disheveling Sara’s hair, the rustling leaves and creaking sticks and the sound of Mick’s grunts when he burned the chicken just a bit too much for his liking.

When Sara fell asleep, drunk and exhausted from the events this night, she dreamed about Ava. Dreaming about waking up next to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again :D  
> Hope y'all liked the chapter and let me know what you think/feel! I'm curious :3
> 
> Next chapter is party time :D I hope I'll finish it until next weekend.


	11. A Legendary Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends have a party and Ava meets them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> Sorry that the update comes a little later, it took me longer to go through all the comments my beautiful beta reader [LadyXana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyXana/pseuds/LadyXana) and [WishingTree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree) left on the chapter. It's also longer than the others ;)
> 
> [This](https://youtu.be/upjDSCkz5XQ) is the song mentioned in the chapter later.
> 
> Also thanks to LadyXana for helping me to come up with costumes. <3
> 
> And one last thing; I wanted to thank [UnlockTheRainbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnlockTheRainbow/pseuds/UnlockTheRainbow) for the inspiraton for this fic. She writes another fanfic about criminal!Legends and I got the idea from her, so check it out her's is really great!
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy it!

It was already afternoon when Zari and Amaya started to help set everything up for the party, as they agreed with Sara that they would. Ray would join them shortly after as he had a habit of arriving earlier to parties, or anything else for that matter.

They put all the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in a tub in Sara’s kitchen, filling it with water and crushed ice to keep them cold until late in the night.

They had all brought something to eat. Sara had made a dip out of dates, cream cheese, and garlic. Zari made something Iranian that Sara couldn’t remember the name of or pronounce right but she knew it was delicious because it was Zari’s usual food to bring to parties. Amaya had brought vegan samosas with a spicy dip made from the recipe her grandma had given her years ago.

The end result was quite a sight, given the unusual combination of decorations reused from other parties, such as an old barrel from the pirate-themed party last year and the drinking horns from the viking one, as well as many strings of lights.

The doorbell rang, and Sara already knew who was standing behind the door. Smirking to herself, she opened it to see a beaming Ray together with an already annoyed-looking Nora and had to bite back a laugh. Motioning for them to come inside, she gave them each a hug. 

“Your costumes look great,” Sara said, eyeing Ray’s cowboy costume and the moustache he had glued to his upper lip.

“Thanks,” he replied. “You look great too! Is that the one you had on at the medieval party when you hooked up with Guin?” Ray asked as innocently as ever.

Sara wore a white longarm shirt and a light brown tunic on top of it, leather boots, leather gloves and a brown cape over her left shoulder. A belt with a sheath hung around her waist, a blunt sword inside the sheath.  
“Yeah, it is. But please, Ray, don’t accidentally mention **any** of my hookups when Ava’s around, okay?” She felt the need to say that to every one of her friends, and it would annoy her if she didn’t love the adorable dorks they all were.

“Of course, Sara,” Ray said, nodding sincerely. She smiled back at him and then addressed Nora while Ray was admiring Amaya's pirate costume.

“Your Freya costume looks pretty great,” Sara said, earning a smile from Nora. Although Nora didn’t make an attempt to hide her annoyance for Ray’s habit of showing up too early to literally every party, she couldn’t hide the fondness in her eyes when she looked at him, especially when she thought no one would see her.

“Thanks but I think we could’ve waited for a little longer to show up, seeing as there is no here yet,” she said, shooting Ray a glare.

“But now we’re not gonna be late and we can spend more time with our friends,” he pointed out.

“You’re lucky that you are as adorable as you are oblivious, dork,” Nora said, punching him gently in the arm before crossing the room to greet Amaya and Zari.

“She loves me, right?” Ray asked a little unsure, like an innocent little puppy.

Sara smiled at him, sighing, “Yeah, she does. Put the food over there.” She gestured to the kitchen and turned around to look at her phone. Maybe someone - Ava - had texted her. 

Then all of a sudden, the bell rang again.

Sara walked back to the door, pulling it open and catching sight of a certain blonde, standing a little self-consciously behind it.

“Hey,” Sara’s features turned soft, a fond smile settling on her lips. Ava’s face lit up and she took a step forward into Sara’s personal space, pressing a kiss on her lips and then hugging her tightly.

“Hey,” Ava whispered into her ear, making Sara giggle and sending a shiver down her spine, and Ava pulled back and immediately took her hand. Sara tugged her inside and stood in front of Zari, Amaya, Nora and Ray, and they all shot Ava a curious look, taking note of how she was shifting from one foot to the other.

“Guys, this is Ava,” Sara said, giving Ava a fond look to reassure her and turning back to her friends. “Ava, this is Zari, Amaya, Nora and Ray.” She gestured to them as she spoke, and each one of them shook her extended hand, Nora and Zari gave her an intimidating look to which Ava frowned but when Amaya and Ray each shot her a bright smile, Ava smiled back happily.

“I really like your Doctor Who costume, Ava,” Ray said and Zari, and Amaya nodded along.

“Doctor Who?” asked Sara and Nora simultaneously. Immediately the other four broke out in laughter, leaving Nora and Sara with quizzical looks on their faces.

“It’s a British tv show, really great and totally worth seeing,” Ray explained. “My favourite is Thirteen. She’s so adventurous and techy. But I like Eleven too. I'm a big fan of his relationship with Rory and Amy.” Then his expression turned thoughtful. “Now when I think about it, Rory and Rip look quite similar.”

“That’s right, Ray. They look pretty much like brothers,” Zari said and had the same thoughtful expression on her face. “Although I think the similarities between Malcolm Merlyn and Jack Harkness are even bigger. I mean they look basically like the same person. Maybe John Barrowman is just his alias.”

“So Thirteen is your favourite? According to the coat, the pants and the lovely shirt?” Amaya asked before Zari and Ray would come up with more obscure theories about John Barrowman, gesturing at Ava’s costume, a lilac-blue trench coat, high waisted blue pants, and the blue shirt with rainbow stripes crossing along the chest.

“Yeah, I really like her, although I like the tenth and twelfth Doctors too. They have such nice companions, especially Rose and Clara,” Ava answered and Sara smiled when she saw the sparkles in Ava’s eyes.

“My favourite of all time is and will always be Twelve.”

“Doesn’t surprise anyone, babe.” Amaya smiled at Zari and poked her on her side. The latter tried to dodge it but failed, leaving them with a grunt.

When the Legends go back to the respective tasks Sara had ordered them to do, Ava gave Sara the bottle of wine she had brought, which she laid down next to the other drinks in the tub. “I don’t think Nora likes me, she hasn't said anything. It's bad, isn't it?” Ava whispered to her. Her brows were knitted together, giving Sara the feeling that Ava was disappointed by her friends not liking her. Sara let out a small laugh, finding it incredibly cute.

“She likes you, I promise. Don’t judge by the amount of smile she gives other people. And you shouldn’t do that with Zari either. If you went by that, that would mean that they didn’t even like their partners,” Sara said and couldn’t hold back another laugh when she saw Ava frown. “I mean look at them, Amaya and Ray are the exact opposite of them. Someone has to be the grumpy part of the relationship.”

“Shut up, Lance. You’re not any better yourself,” retorted Zari from behind. “You should’ve seen her before you two got together,” Zari addressed Ava, and Sara only shot her a glare, “She was basically the person with the worst smiling count in our entire school.”

At first, Sara was slightly embarrassed when she saw Ava frowning at her, but then Sara saw something shifting in Ava’s look and she was met with pure affection, understanding and pride. Sara’s features turned soft once more, washing the embarrassment and the momentary insecurity away.

“Well doesn’t that speak for itself?” Ava asked a little cocky and Sara couldn’t have found it more attractive. She grinned smugly at Zari, who shot first Ava a frowning look, then Sara.

“You can keep her, she’s alright,” Zari’s voice sounded nonchalant, though Sara sensed the true meaning behind it. ‘ _Don’t mess this one up, she’s good for you._ ’

“See, I told you she likes you,” Sara whispered in Ava’s ear, earning a smile from Ava.

Another hour passed by, in which Ava and Amaya quickly connected, already on their way to becoming friends. The sight of her girlfriend interacting with her friends like this set free a familiar warmth which spread quickly all over her body.

The sound of the doorbell ringing again echoed through her apartment. Going to the door, she shot a grin at Ava when the latter laughed heartily at one of Amaya’s jokes.

Opening the door, she found herself standing in front of Nate in a cowboy costume. He tipped his hat with his finger on the brim, his right thumb tucked in the belt loop next to a holster with a colt inside. She shot him an approving smile, copying his greeting, and then they quickly shared a tight hug. While standing on her tiptoes and glancing over his shoulder, Sara caught sight of someone standing behind him.  
Felicity, waving at her and smiling. Sara pulled away from Nate and hugged Felicity as tightly as she had hugged Nate, shooting her a smirk for her choice of costume, giving her a once over. The blonde had dressed up as witch which looked pretty great on her and now stood blushing lightly in front of her.

“Hey, you two! Happy you could make it,” Sara said, smiling at them. “I want you to meet someone.” She lead them over to where Ava and Amaya were talking, hoping to cut in.

“This is Ava, my girlfriend.” Her voice was proud when she grabbed Ava’s hand and turned her around, placing her hand in the small of her back and smiling at the two in front of her. “Ava, these are Nate and Felicity.”

Ava smiled friendly at them, attempting to give them both a handshake but they both pulled her into a quick hug, surprising her at first but only a second later Sara saw her relaxing and reciprocating, her expression even more happy than before.

“Nice to meet you,” Ava said when they pulled away, smiling.

“Likewise,” Felicity said along with Nate and shot her a smile then turned around to say her hello’s to the other Legends in the room.  
Sara could hear the immediate admiration for Zari’s costume when she overheard a conversation about Ada Lovelace and the first female programmer. Honestly, Sara hadn’t had a clue as what Zari had dressed, she wasn’t sure she had dressed up at all, but that wouldn’t be unlike Zari so Sara had just shrugged it off.  
To her right, she heard Ava laughing at another thing Amaya had said and once more Sara was thrilled that her girlfriend had already connected to her friends.

She turned around to Nate and tugged him a few feet away from the two other girls. “If you tell Ava either about my crush on Felicity or my hookups with Alex, John or Guin, I’m gonna skin you alive. Understood?” Sara said it in her mom-voice she developed when she met the people she now called her family.  
Besides Nate’s will to always do good things, he could be a dumbass sometimes, and Sara didn’t want to put her new relationship at risk with one of her friends talking about her not so glorious hookup times.

He swallowed and looked sincere at her, “I wouldn’t want to ruin everything on the first time I met her, Cap,” he answered and nodded at her, smiling afterwards, making Sara smile as well.

“That’s the spirit,” she replied and bumped him on his arm, making her way to the door again after she heard Zari opening it. Barry and Iris had already made themselves comfortable on her couch, catching up with Felicity. They said quick hello’s, and Sara couldn’t stop herself from telling them about Ava either. Every time she did so, she felt so proud and all happy inside, like a void was suddenly being filled.

Soon after Barry, followed Alex and her sister Kara. Sara had met them before, together with Barry and Iris at a concert they gave in the _Waverider_ a few years ago. Rip invited them every once in a while, and then after Alex had broken up with her girlfriend Maggie, they had hooked up once. Sara and Alex had talked about it and became friends when their family moved to Star City afterwards. The Legends invited Barry and Iris to all their parties but sometimes the distance between Central City and Star City was a bit too difficult. But the Legends were happy every time they managed to see them all.

Soon after, John Constantine made an appearance, and Sara could immediately tell that she didn’t like him. Her body went totally rigid and her hand held Sara’s tightly when Constantine smirked at Sara. The worst part was when he called Ava ‘ _love_ ’, after he complimented her ‘ _good taste in damaged women_ ’. The latter snapped almost in an instant and told him that Sara wasn’t damaged at all, and to never call her ‘ _love_ ' again. 

Sara’s heart had warmed at how quickly Ava jumped to her defence, but John had just looked her in the eyes and literally said, ‘Okay, _pet._ ’ He emphasised the new pet name and Sara had to tug Ava away to keep her from ripping his head off. Which brought them to this moment.

Ava and Sara stood a few feet away from the others, currently wrapped up in several conversations, the room full of laughter mixed with music playing in the background. Sara still had one hand around Ava’s when the latter started to speak.

“I really like all of your friends, Sara. They’re all so nice. Especially Amaya. But this Constantine, I don’t get why he’s here,” Ava said, sounding curious. And Sara found herself at a lack of words. Should she tell Ava about the hookup?

But she didn’t want to lie about anything more than necessary to Ava, so she told her. “We kinda have a past. I mean, it was just a one-time thing, didn’t mean anything. And it’s long gone.” The words came out hesitant, and Sara shifted on her feet.

For a long moment, she thought she screwed everything up. Ava hadn’t said a word. “Well, we weren't together back then, so… I kinda like him even less now.” Ava chuckled nervously.

“There’s nothing you have to be jealous about, okay?” Sara asked, grabbing Ava’s hand, drawing small patterns over her palm.

“I trust you, Sara.” Ava sounded so sincere and the look in her eyes was so incredibly fond that Sara’s heart ached even more thinking about what she had already lied about to Ava, the woman who trusted her.  
Sara managed to smile back, trying to keep her guard up and not to let the smile look as broken and miserable as she felt right now, and Ava gave her a tender kiss, making Sara feel like she could have cried. She had to get rid of all these lies when it was the right time. She made herself promise that she would tell Ava, that she would answer every question with complete honesty the latter asked her. Sara didn’t want to disappoint her again. Ava would definitely be more than disappointed when she told her.

Pulling back from Ava, she tried to swallow the lump that was currently stuck in her throat. Using it as an excuse to get herself a drink, she went looking for Zari or Amaya for advice.

“I’m going to get a drink, do you want some too?”

“No thanks, babe. I’m gonna get some food. I haven’t had lunch or dinner today,” her girlfriend said and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek, making Sara blush a little. She wasn’t used to being so affectionate around other people. She had been, a little, with Nyssa but that was years ago.

She turned around and crossed the room to pour herself a glass of scotch. That was exactly what she needed at the moment. Sara opened the bottle she had kept cold in the tub and poured herself a glass as she looked for her friends, but both of them were nowhere to be seen. Sara smirked at the thought of what they could’ve been up to.

+++++

Ava was just about to fill her plate when Amaya, Zari and Nora approached her from behind and she startled a little, nearly letting her plate fall to the ground when Zari tapped her on her shoulder. She turned around with a curious look on her face.

“Everything okay?” She asked, hesitant and unsure about what was going on.

“We wanted to talk to you for a sec,” Amaya said, smiling at her which reassured Ava a little.

“About what?” Ava asked hesitantly.

“Sara,” Zari said, an indecipherable expression in her eyes. If Ava took a guess, she would say it was protectiveness. 

“We can see that you make her happy, really. She hasn’t smiled this often in all the years we’ve known her now, but that changed when you two met. Which we are all thankful for,” Amaya said, her voice firm but still friendly as she smiled warmly at her, unlike Zari and Nora who eyed her with a narrowed, piercing look.

Now Ava had a hunch about where this was going to go.

“But she has been through a lot as you may know,” Zari continued.

“Yeah, I know. She told me, but sadly I think that wasn’t even all there is to it. But she can talk to me about everything, I’ll listen and I’ll be there,” she said sincerely. Although they seemed to know that Ava and Sara had talked about something of her past she wanted to make clear they understood she meant what she said. She would be there for Sara, every time she needed her. No matter what.

“Good, because we wouldn’t want her to get even more hurt. We wanted to tell you that, just in case.” It was Nora who spoke up this time, and Ava glanced at her.

“Neither do I, I promise.”

“That’s great because we like you and we don’t want her to lose this newly discovered happiness,” Zari said, and although she tried to hide the feelings leading her to say such things, Ava could still see them. And she couldn’t decide what surprised her more, that she could see them or that Zari actually liked her.

“And don’t be too hard on her, she’s still trying to get used to showing someone her feelings again,” Amaya said, giving Ava a look that she couldn’t quite understand. As if there was more to it. But for now, she just shrugged it off. Maybe when she gets to know them and their whole group better she would understand what this was about. She trusted Sara to tell her everything she wanted when she was ready.

“I’m glad she has friends like you” Ava’s words were said with complete honesty because she truly was. She couldn’t stand the thought of Sara being all to her own, with all the things she must have endured over all the past years.

But Ava was certain she would help Sara. She would show her that she liked her. Show her that she was worth love and forgiveness and that Ava would always have her back.

+++++

Sara couldn’t find Zari, Amaya or Ava, but before she could go looking, Ava returned from her bedroom with Amaya, Nora and Zari trailing behind her, and Sara shot them a narrowed look, curious what this had been about. When she shot them a puzzled look, Zari just shrugged and smirked at her. The three girls headed back to where they had been before and Ava moved towards her, shooting her a reassuring smile.

“Your friends are really cute, Sara.” Ava giggled, though Sara thought she sounded a bit nervous.

“What did you talk about?”

“Well, they kinda gave me the shovel talk.” Now Ava giggled once more and Sara was certain she heard a hint of nervousness.

“They didn’t threaten you, did they?” Sara asked and shot the other three girls a glare, getting a cheeky smile from Zari and Nora as a response.

“Not really, they just care about you. Like a lot.” Ava now looked slightly more comfortable once again, letting Sara’s muscles relax a bit. For a moment she had thought that Zari would have told Ava about every hookup she’d had, but thankfully not.

“But they made you nervous?”

“Yeah. I mean, they’re your friends. They wouldn’t be half as good friends if they couldn’t make her friend’s new girlfriend sweat a little and show her that they’ll be watching her. Isn’t that something friends should do, have each other’s backs?” 

Sara sighed, “Okay, but I’ll tell them to take their eyes away from you. There’s only one pair of eyes allowed on your body and that’s mine.” She grinned at Ava while the latter just smiled widely, kissing Sara tenderly.

“Get a room already,” Zari called from behind.

“You may have noticed, Z, we _are_ in my room.” Sara smirked back and shot Ava a triumphant grin when Zari let out a long sigh and turned around to continue her conversation with Felicity.

The night went on, and by now all the invited guests had arrived. Caitlin had been late because there was an incident in the lab at the high school but everything was fine now. Sara’s former hookup Guinevere had shown up, who she had invited along with a few other people from school.

Sara laid on the couch, waiting for Ava to come back to with their drinks. Wandering her eyes over the room, she caught Guin staring at her. Her features turned in an instant into a smirk, cocking up an eyebrow and licking over her lips slightly. Sara, for her part, just stared at her, her lips quirking up in an amused grin when Ava appeared next to her, giving her the scotch and sitting down in Sara’s lap.  
Guin, still eyes on Sara, shot her a glare and turned around, looking for someone to keep herself busy.

“What’s the matter?” Ava asked, a quizzical look on her face.

“Nothing, just someone who saw how much I like you,” Sara answered, turning her gaze from the other girl to Ava. Their faces were now level due to Ava’s position in Sara’s lap, so Sara leaned in to catch Ava’s lips and connect them in a tender kiss.

When Sara pulled back, Ava had a smile on her face, her eyes lingering on Sara.  
“I really like you, Sara,” Ava said, her voice soft, making Sara’s stomach flutter. 

Sara looked deep in her mesmerizing greyish-blue eyes. “I like you too, Aves.” She was certain she had never said anything with such sincerity.

They smiled at each other for a moment as if it were just the two of them alone in her apartment. No people around them, no music playing in the background, no one staring at them. Just them two, sharing their own bubble filled with tenderness and love where they could protect each other from all the bad things that could happen, anything that could come between their relationship, brand new but already so intense.

Then, suddenly, the bubble of fond smiles was destroyed by a drunk Nate screaming, “Who wants to play beer pong?”

Before Ava could say something to Sara to keep them away from that and stay here together, Sara pushed Ava out of her lap, laughing and tugging her to the dining table, which had been changed into the playfield for beer pong by now.

They played two rounds, the first one a glorious win for Ava and Sara. Nate was already too drunk to hit the cups and Barry wasn’t good at all. The second round was against John and Guin, who grinned at Sara and shot Ava a glare, much to Ava’s confusion.  
For the most part, the game was even. They weren’t that drunk, but they each had different motivations driving them. Ava was trying to piss off John, but he couldn’t care less, and Sara was trying to wipe Guin’s grin off of her face, while Guin was just trying to annoy Sara. Then John missed his shot, causing Ava to cheer uncharacteristically loudly when he drank out of the cup and began to slur his words soon after. Ava and Sara needed three more points, while Guin and John needed four.

Guinevere was up next, grinning devilishly at Sara who only stared back without emotion. She made a show of preparing her throw and Sara felt her own muscles tense when the ball flew over the table and landed right in the cup in front of Ava. Three to three. Ava emptied the cup quickly, swaying a little by now, and then it was Sara’s turn. She aimed for the cup right in front of Guinevere, took in a breath, concentrated for a split second and then the ball hit the cup. Ava cheered beside her and kissed her on the cheek, making Sara grin triumphantly at their opponents. Guin glared at her, but that only made Sara grin more.

Now was Ava’s turn, she picked her target, focussed, and threw the ball. It landed with a ‘ _plop_ ’ in the cup near Constantine, to which he just said, “Easy, Sharpie.” Ava glared at him but grinned when he had to drink the cup. He was next and without further preparing or eyeing for his target he threw the ball into the cup in the third line. Sara took the cup and emptied it in one gulp.  
Guin took a few moments to show off her throwing skills, ending with her throwing it into one of their three last cups and making Sara groan. This time Ava emptied the cup and Sara took the ball. 

They only had one cup left to hit, and Sara aimed, focusing on the target, and then suddenly something shattered in her bedroom. The noise startled her enough that she missed the shot, earning a devastating grin from Guinevere and a cocked eyebrow from John. "Sorry," Nate called soon after and Sara just hoped it wasn't one of her swords. She could have definitely done better but with Ava by her side she was not that attentive, her senses more occupied with pissing Guin off and keeping herself from touching Ava all the time. She didn’t want to make Ava feel uncomfortable.  
“You gonna make it, babe,” Sara said, emphasizing the name. Ava took her time, threw the small ball but only got close to the cup, missing it. Their opponents cheered and Sara could only glare at their smug faces, crossing her arms.

Now it was John’s turn again. As unceremoniously as before, he threw the ball and for a moment Sara believed he would miss but he goaled right beside the cup Guin hit before. Sara muttered a quiet ‘ _fuck_ ’ under her breath and thought their game was already over but then an idea enlightened her brain. Guinevere took the ball and was about to throw but was distracted when Sara pulled Ava in and pressed a long, fierce kiss on her lips. She couldn’t help but smirk into the kiss when she saw Guin glaring, her features turning deep red and then missing the shot.

The smug grin was now on her features when she effortlessly hit the last cup on their side. Beside her, Ava cheered and pulled Sara in for another kiss.

“Drinks for the winners!” Nate called, his words even more slurred than before. Sara felt proud and oddly satisfied when she saw the smug grin vanishing from Guin’s face. But then her face cleared, and Sara’s entire body tensed at her words.

“You only won because of Oliver showing you how to use a bow,” the grin reappeared on Guin’s face again when she caught Sara staring at her. Suddenly her whole body felt numb, and she couldn’t even feel Ava’s light touch on her shoulder.

“Who’s Oliver?” Ava asked, not knowing what was going on but sensing the rigid state her body was currently in.

“No one important,” Sara managed to choke out.

“You know you said that once before and then told me you slept with him,” Ava chuckles, trying to lighten the mood but it backfired when she felt Sara’s muscles twitching once more. Thankfully, Ava stopped pushing. Sara assumed she didn’t want to put her more on edge than she already was.  
“If you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s okay, you know? You don’t owe me an explanation.” She stroked her hand down Sara’s arm and curled her fingers around hers, drawing light patterns on her palm.  
While Ava guided Sara slowly to the couch, the latter felt the tension slowly leaving her muscles, letting herself fall into the embrace Ava was offering and shutting down all these feelings. She didn’t want to deal with them right now. She couldn’t deal with them now and not tell Ava about it. Thankfully her girlfriend remained silent for the next minutes, just stroking through her hair and drawing patterns on her palm, not letting go once.  
They remained in that position for a while until the doorbell rang once more, and Sara got up to answer it. She felt better now, after Ava had soothed her, and when she opened the door, she saw Mick and Leonard standing in front of her. Leo had his trademark snarky smile stretching across his face while Mick took a sip from his beer. 

“Hey Cap,” Snart said, “We just wanted to pass by for a quick drink and to say hello.”

Usually Mick and Leonard weren’t party people, and Sara could see right through them. The real reason they had stopped by was because Rip had information about their next heist. Sara normally wouldn't mind at all but she didn't want to put anything more at risk than it already was. 

They came in and Snart got himself a drink as soon as he discovered the bar. Mick made himself comfortable at the couch right beside Ava, grunting at her as a greeting. Ava nodded back, and Sara tugged Snart into her bedroom, trying not to be conspicuous. 

“What’s up?” she asked when they were out of earshot.

“Rip wanted us to tell you about the next job. Not that I don’t appreciate your drinks though,” he said, taking a sip of his scotch.

“What’s that next job?” Sara asked, eager to get this over and done with so she could return to enjoying the party. 

“We’re going to steal few pieces of art from some rich family, Rip didn’t mention who’s gonna be the lucky one. But if we are successful, which we are going to be, then we get a lot of money,” Snart said with the glint in his eyes that usually made itself known when it came to stealing things or involved getting paid. “He set the job for Tuesday in two weeks.”

“Rough call to pull it during the week.” They had done it before, but only when they had no other choice because they didn’t want to put Sara and Zari’s grades at risk for their criminal career. At least Rip, Gideon, Snart and Mick cared about that.

“Yeah but you know the rich people, they throw parties every weekend. So it’s unavoidable.”

“Okay, I’ll tell Zari then. Strategy meeting next weekend I presume?”

“Yes. I’ll call you. Rip and I need to do recon first.”

“Got it,” she answered, turning around to leave the room. “Enjoy the party, but please don’t do anything that could lead to Ava guessing that you’re a criminal.” She was joking, mostly. Sara wouldn’t want to add to the questions than Ava must already have about her.

They were just coming back to the others when she heard a drunken Barry trying to convince Zari and Amaya to play truth or dare with him. According to the smile on her face and her attempts to convince Amaya, Ava had already said yes, making Sara smile because she was happy that her girlfriend was connecting with her people. 

Ava laughed loudly at a retort Zari gave Barry to his comment about Zari not smiling enough, and Sara felt a warmth spread through her at the sight, walking over to them with her eyes lingering on Ava.

“Oh come on, Zari,” Barry slurred while Zari tried her best to keep him at a distance as he tried to pull her up from the couch.

“Yes, Z. Come on, you’re just scared that someone’s gonna dare you to say ‘I like you’ again,” Sara called towards them, earning a glare from Zari while Amaya, Mick, Barry and Ava laughed out loud.

“Sara, you’re gonna play with us, right?” Amaya asked.

“Of course, someone has to come up with the good dares,” Sara answered, shooting Zari a wink, to which she just glared at her once more.

“And that’s why I always choose truth.”

“And that’s why we came up with the ‘only two truths in a row’ rule,” Amaya laughed and jumped when Zari poked her in her side, making her giggle even more.

“I’m going to get us a bottle,” Barry said, trying to push himself up. When he finally managed it, he swayed towards the bar, searching for a fitting bottle.

“Not a full one, Barry. I’m not going to clean the entire living room myself,” Sara called after him.

“Not gonna happen again!” he slurred as an answer and came back to them with a surprisingly empty bottle.

Amaya, Ava, Zari, Barry, Constantine, and Sara quickly sat down on the living room floor, the bottle in their midst. All of them were at least slightly drunk by now, but that wouldn’t diminish the fun.

“I’m going to spin first,” Ava said, reaching for the bottle. It took a moment, but then the bottle stopped right before Zari.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath, but everyone could guess what she had said as they began to laugh heartily, only increasing the frown on Zari’s face.

“Okay, truth or dare.”

“Truth.”

“Oh come one, Z,” Sara said, voice mockingly disappointed.

“Shut up, Lance. I’m just playing this to get the chance to make fun of you,” Zari retorted with a deadpan tone in her voice.

“We all know you secretly love this game,” Sara shot back and gave her a wink.

“Ask already,” Zari said, ignoring Sara’s comment.

“Hm, let’s see.” Ava thought for a moment. “Do you like to play games like this?”

“C’mon Sharpie, I thought you could do better than that,” Constantine said, getting a brief glare from Ava, and he only smirked in return.  
“I’m still figuring out how this works. I’ve never played it before.”

“So, for the sake of the game and so we can go on, answer the damn question, Z,” Sara said, trying to save Ava from further retorts from John. She knew it would only piss her off more, and Sara wanted Ava to have a good time with her friends, not to pull up a battle between her girlfriend and her ex-hookup.

“No, not if I can’t embarrass people.” Zari’s lips quirked up in an almost amused smile. “And now it’s my turn.” Spinning the bottle, the amusement on her features turned into a devilish smile when the bottle stopped with the bottleneck pointing at Amaya who smiled at Zari.

“I choose dare,” Amaya said without further questions.

“Okay, so I demand you to take a sip from the scotch with toothpaste in it,” Zari said while chuckling to herself.

“Ahh, that’s gross,” Barry said while his always present smile turned into a screwed up look on his features. All the others nodded along with him.

“Okay, I’m gonna get my drink then,” Amaya said, stood up and made her way to Sara’s bathroom. When she came back, she mixed the peppermint paste into the amber liquor, turning up her nose when she took in the smell.

“Don’t puke on my carpet!”

Holding her nose shut, Amaya gulped down the entire glass in one sip, screwing her face up when she opened her eyes again.

“Alright, I think it’s my turn now,” She said, her voice a bit rough from a cough she had let out. 

Amaya spun the bottle, and this time the bottleneck pointed at John. He grunted in response while Zari and Sara exchanged an amused look, and Sara spotted Ava’s expression shifting from a relaxed smile to a determined smirk, a competitive look shining in her eyes. 

While she was looking at her, time seemed to stop for a moment. Her soft curled hair was a bit dishevelled, but was beautifully backlit like a halo by the lamp hanging above her. Her pupils were blown wider than normal, probably from the alcohol in her blood but it only made Sara realize how stunning her eyes were. Like the dark clouds hanging in the sky during a heavy summer storm, enlightened by the struck of lightning.  
She was completely hypnotized for a moment, consumed by the woman sitting in front of her. Sara couldn’t feel happier right now, that she had met her, that she tried to be better. That she tried to be better for Ava.

“Ask me the truth, love,” Constantine said, narrowing his eyes.

“So, John. Tell me what you brought in your bag. I can’t stop wondering.” John, who hadn't shown up in costume but had instead been insisting his outfit was that of a private investigator, had brought a small bag with him, refusing to tell anyone what was inside.  
He rolled his eyes but complied, picking up the bag from behind him and opening it.

“Is that… A foot?” Ava asked, her voice and face showing disgust.

“Exactly.”

“Please, Constantine, tell me that it’s a rubber foot,” Zari said, showing almost the same disgust as Ava did.

“You all wanted to know what was inside. Now you all can die happy.” He shot them a mock smile and Sara couldn’t stop herself from laughing at Ava’s and Zari’s expression and Barry’s sudden fascination for the rubber foot.

“You don’t wanna touch it, mate,” He said, holding the foot out of Barry’s range. “Anyways, I think it’s my turn now.” Putting the foot in front of him with his right hand, he spun the bottle with his left.

It stopped with the neck pointed at Ava, and he smirked at her as Ava let out a quiet ‘oh please’.

He smirked at her, “Truth or dare, Sharpie?”

“Dare,” Ava answered quickly. Sara assumed she was eager to get this over with.

“Okay, so. I dare you to touch the foot.” His smirk intensified, and so did the disgust on Ava’s face.

“Really?”

“So are the rules.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ava said, sighing. Constantine held out the foot and Ava, squeezing her eyes shut, held out one single finger. She wouldn’t back down, Sara thought. Not after she knew about him and her, and somehow this let Sara fall even harder for her. 

Ava leaned further in the direction of the foot and almost jumped when she touched the cold rubber toe. She withdrew immediately, opening her eyes and seeing Zari with a mixture of disgust and laughter on her face while Amaya and Barry were only disgusted, and Sara had to bite back a laugh.

“I’m going to wash my hands,” Ava said, stood up in a rush and held her finger away as far as possible.

“You better do that, Sharpie,” Constantine called after her which made Ava almost run to the bathroom.

A minute later Ava came back, still a slightly disgusted look on her face but she sat down and spun the bottle one more time. It pointed at Zari.

“Not again! Before you ask, I choose truth,” Zari said, holding up a finger to stop Ava from asking.

“Okay, let’s see. Who’s the best roommate you ever had?”

“Seriously?” Zari asked, shooting a glare to which Ava smirked, along with Sara who knew exactly one person Zari had ever shared a room with.

“Say it,” She teased. “We both know the answer.” Sara couldn’t stop herself from smirking at Zari.

Zari rolled her eyes, “Sara is the best roommate I ever had.” Her voice sounded unsurprisingly annoyed by the whole situation and as soon as she finished her answer, Sara laughed hard, causing the others to giggle with her.

“I didn’t even know you two had been roommates,” Barry said.

“We were, just for a short time. Right after we bought our apartments. Zari’s needed a little longer because of some renovations. Still counts,” Sara said, tucking her tongue out at Zari.

Without further words, Zari spun the bottle again, and it landed on Barry.

“So, Barry, truth or dare?” Zari asked, smirking at his goofy smile.

“I want truth.”

“Okay then, spill the tea. What is your go-to song for the shower?” 

“That’s easy. It’s ‘ _Singing In The Rain_ ’,” Barry answered, the dorky smile growing on his face and causing the others around him to giggle. He spun the bottle and it pointed at Sara.

“Truth or dare?” Barry asked, his words still slurred from the amount of alcohol he had consumed earlier.

“Dare, we need some action here,” she said, cocking up an eyebrow at Zari, waiting for Barry to go on.

“Carry Ava bridal style through your apartment.”

“Well that’s an easy one,” Sara said, her voice cheerful and a beaming smile on her lips. “Come on, babe, get up,” she held a hand out for Ava which the latter took gladly, seeing as she needed a moment to regain balance when she stood on her feet.

“I didn’t know you could do that.” Ava sounded a little unsure even though she trusted Sara. She had seen what she was capable of and Ava was certain that wasn’t even all.

Sara was about to say ‘neither did I’ but thought better of it than to support the insecurity Ava seemed to have and simply lifted her up. Ava squealed a little and clung herself around Sara’s neck, eliciting a fond laugh from her mouth. Sara’s skin tickled when Ava’s warm breath hit the nape of her neck, inciting a burning sensation. She could do this all night.

Sara made a step and felt Ava tensing her whole body, and Sara smirked to herself. “Trust me, Aves,” she whispered in her ear, and she could feel the way Ava shivered when the words hit her skin, only increasing the smirk on Sara’s lips. Ava relaxed in her arms, turning the smirk into an affectionate smile.

So Sara started walking through the crowds of people around her apartment, moving to the door, then to the kitchen and into the separated area where her bed was. The people around her started to cheer when they saw what she was doing and the longer she held Ava in her arms, the more the latter relaxed, and at some point she started encouraging her too. Amused and encouraged by the first unknown feeling of someone like this in her arms, she made her way back to the group and felt a little disappointed when she had to let Ava down. She was almost pouting, and so was Ava.

The latter shot her a sheepish smile when most of the people started to applaud at Sara letting Ava down and giving her a tender kiss. They stood so close that only Ava could hear the soft, “We’re gonna do that again at some point.” She looked at Sara’s icy blues and Sara could see how a flush crept up Ava’s back. Then Sara’s eyes fell to Guin, making a show of definitely not looking towards her and Sara shot her a wink, earning a huff as a reaction.

“Okay, now I think it’s my turn.” Sara couldn’t help but beam like a sunray, but honestly, she couldn’t care less. She spun the bottle and laughed hard when it stopped right in front of Zari. The latter just groaned and made the others chuckle.

“Last time I checked the truth-counter it told me two, sooo I think you are on dare-duty now.” She wiggled her eyebrows, not even trying to hide the malicious joy in her voice and the devilish grin settling on her features.

“Let’s just get over with it, Lance,” Zari rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“I dare you to sing the ‘ _Cock A Doodle Doo_ ’ song for us.”

“Oh, come on, Lance,” Zari groaned once more.

“It’s a dare. Do it.” Sara giggled when Zari shot her an annoyed glare.

“Why are we friends again?”

“You love me, we both know that. Besides you would definitely do the same.” Sara nudged Zari in the side with her elbow.

“True. But I swear, if you record this, I’ll find you and I will kill you.” Zari pointed her index finger at Sara but she just pushed it away, still chuckling.

“I’m just enjoying the moment, there’s no need for recording it. Please start, we wanna hear your sweet voice, little Zari bird,” Sara whistled mockingly and Zari rolled her eyes once more.

And so Zari sang. Her voice wasn’t bad at all, Sara knew that she wouldn’t choose something she knew Zari was uncomfortable with. Zari just didn’t sing in front of people very often, mostly because most of them didn’t know about her talent.

“Actually, that was pretty great,” Ava said while Amaya smiled happily at her girlfriend. She had always encouraged Zari’s singing, even suggesting that Zari take classes, though Zari had refused.

“She’s a great singer, she just doesn’t show anybody,” Sara said, shooting Zari a look, and she smiled sheepishly at Ava, almost proud.

“Time to get over with this,” Zari tried to change the topic with spinning the bottle, hiding the small blush that had settled on her cheeks. Ava was the lucky one now.

“Whatcha havin’, truth or dare?” This time Zari wiggled her eyebrows.

“Truth is it, I think.”

“What’s your weirdest habit you told no one of?” Now Zari had a smirk on her lips.

“That’s a good one, Z,” Sara laughed and gave Zari a high five, waiting now for Ava to answer the question.

“Well, I kinda have a little obsession on serial killers. If I get my hands on files of their cases, I try to solve some of them myself. I just can’t help it,” Ava said, at first a little hesitant then more and more with a hesitant smile on her face. She shrugged when she finished speaking, leaving everyone’s mouth agape.

“Wow, I didn’t know my girlfriend was this cool!” Sara laughed out loud, followed by everyone in their group, and gave Ava a quick kiss on her cheek.

“I have to say, this wasn’t something I would’ve expected from you, Sharpie,” John said with an almost approving undertone in his voice.

“Thanks for your approval,” Ava replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“Well, I think I’ll get myself another drink, go on with your sweet little game,” he said and pushed himself up, heading towards the bar.

They played a few more rounds, laughing and having fun the entire time, but eventually it came to a close when Barry said it was time for him and Iris, who was busy catching up with Felicity and Caitlin for the entire time, to head home back to Central City. Most people had called it a night, including Guinevere, Mick, Snart and Constantine, given it was almost two in the morning. 

After another hour, Amaya and Zari left too, they probably stayed over at Zari’s but they hadn’t had that much time together for just the two of them, so Sara could totally understand why they wanted to have at least a few hours together.

The last guests, Felicity, Nate and Caitlin, went home thirty minutes later. They had a long conversation about many things and Sara had been happy to see Ava getting along with her friends so well. The latter seemed to have enjoyed her entire time, besides her disliking Constantine, and Sara couldn’t be more glad for how well this all turned out. She was glad that she had none of her other hookups came into her way this night because Sara was sure Ava would have freaked out. 

After a bit of cleaning, she and Ava called it a night too and got ready for bed. The Legends had promised her they would help clean up the apartment the next morning, and Sara was planning on taking full advantage of that. It was way more fun with them anyway and sometimes it was even better than the party itself. 

When they were finally lying in bed, the masked ball came to Sara’s mind.

“Hey, you still haven't texted me the details for tomorrow,” she said, wondering why because she hadn’t considered Ava to be someone to forget such things.

“Yeah, it was because I didn’t have them until this morning and I wasn’t allowed to text them,” Ava answered, her right hand stroking softly over Sara’s arm, leaving a burning sensation.

“Everything alright at work?”

“Not really. I don’t wanna hold this away from you, I mean, you don’t have to come if you don’t feel comfortable there. I mean, I wouldn’t pressure you into going there with me but still-”

“Aves, what’s going on?” Sara cut her off to stop her from spiralling further into whatever this was. She sighed and closed her eyes for a brief second.

“Out of nowhere the police received a threat for tomorrow night. They think it’s coming from Damien Darhk, one of Star City’s major crime lords. I don’t think he would pull a big thing then, the risk of getting caught is too big with so many police there.”

“I mean, it would be incredibly dumb to risk your business for just a ball.”

“It is, and thankfully Pike thinks so too, that’s why it’s still happening. But he had to make sure the entire event is fully safe, that’s why we weren’t allowed to know about the details yet. We’re still not allowed to text about the details.”

“It’s okay, I have a dress that’ll fit for the night. And I think I have a mask left, somewhere.” Sara thought about her first one she got from Gideon and Rip years ago. She could never bring herself to throw it away, there were too many memories tied to it.

“That’s good, but are you sure you still want to come?” Ava eyed her with a hesitant but soft smile.

“Of course, someone has to make sure my lady is safe.” Sara shot her a wink, easing the worries Ava had on her features.

She kissed her one more time ut pulled away when Ava's lips suddenly turned into a grin, as if she had remembered something in this exact moment.  
“What is it?” She asked, curious and smiling at her girlfriend.

“I kinda ordered a limousine to pick us up,” Ava bit her lip while speaking, squeezing one eye shut.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could afford that.” That took her off guard. Never before had someone made such an expenditure to pick her up for just a party. Well, then again, never before had someone invited her to a fancy event like this.

“I have to make up for all the times you picked me up with your bike somehow.”

“You don’t have to make up for anything, Aves. I do that because I like you,” she said. "And I'm thankful that you came into my life." 

“You are smooth! And I know, but I want to,” Ava said, her smile as fond as ever. Softly pulling Sara out of her thoughts by catching her lips in a tender kiss, unknowingly fighting back the upcoming dark memories in her Sara’s head. “I’ll pick you up at seven but only if you really want to come, okay?” she said, mistaking Sara’s silence for hesitation.

“Aves, like I said, I want to come. Besides the fact that I want to spend the night with you and get to know your people, I couldn’t stand the thought of you there, being in possible danger. I would freak out.” Sara cupped Ava’s cheeks with her hands, looking deep in her eyes. “I really want to.”

“Okay,” Ava breathed against her skin.

They cuddle for a while, light touches on their skin and soft kisses on their lips until Sara noticed a thoughtful, almost worried expression, wander over Ava’s features.

“Still worrying about tomorrow?” Sara asked, while drawing light patterns on Ava’s palm.

“No, yes, a little. But it’s not that.” Sara could hear the thoughts spiralling in Ava’s mind.

“It’s this case that came up last Saturday.”

_Oh no._

“What about it?” Sara tried not to sound worried.

“It was a group, well we don’t exactly know how many they were. They stole something from a church and now the police are about to connect them with other unsolved cases with the same pattern. If that’s true, then the case is nearly as big as the case against Darhk.”

_Fuck._

Sara could feel her hands getting sweaty so she withdrew them and placed them on the fabric of Ava’s sleep shirt, stroking there further. She hoped Ava didn’t notice the sudden change.  
“They’ve never left a piece of evidence, the only thing that is similar every time is the way they put the cameras on loop, but the virus and the IP address change every time. As if they’re ghosts,” Ava explained further, her voice still thoughtful.

“That sounds pretty heavy.” Sara couldn’t bring herself to say anything more. She already felt her throat become tighter, fright settling in her cells.

“It is. But I don’t wanna bother you with all that. Especially when we finally have time for us this week.” Ava smiled at Sara and kissed her. And she couldn’t be happier right then that Ava had stopped talking.

They kissed further and Sara tried to push all the worries and thoughts away, but one wouldn’t go away.

How was she supposed to tell Ava the truth now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again :D
> 
> Let me know how y'all thought of it!
> 
> Have a nice day!


	12. Let’s See What This Night Holds For Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Ava going to the police masked ball.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> Sorry that this chapter took a little longer, I wasn't sure about a lot of things in it and I'm still not entirely happy with it but here it is and I hope y'all like it!
> 
> Big thanks to the lovely [LadyXana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyXana/pseuds/LadyXana) for beta reading the chapter!!
> 
> **TRIGGERWARNING** for alcoholism and violence in this chapter.

Sara stood in her red dress in front of the mirror in her bedroom, with Zari on her left side and Amaya on the other. They had agreed to come over because Sara nearly freaked out when she saw she had only an hour left until Ava would pick her up. Only an hour until she, a criminal, would be surrounded by cops and people of the law for the entire evening.

“I look ridiculous right?” she asked self-consciously.

“No, Sara, you look beautiful,” Zari said, and Sara couldn’t appreciate her honesty more at the moment.

“I bet you’ll make them all dizzy when they see you in this dress,” Amaya said and shot her a wink, causing Sara to smile.

“Thank you guys, I really appreciate your opinion with this.”

“We’re here for you, always,” Amaya said and gave Sara a tight hug.

“What’s going on?” Zari asked when she caught sight of a flash of worry crossing Sara’s well-trained features. Most of the time Zari was able to catch them anyway, even if Sara tried her hardest to mask them.

“Ava kinda told me yesterday that the police is on us. They have no idea how many we are, who we are or any other pieces of evidence, but they recognize our pattern now.” The distress on Sara’s face was no longer masked and it now matched the horror visible on Amaya and Zari’s faces.

“What?” both asked simultaneously.

“How am I gonna tell Rip? I can’t just step through the door and say, _‘hey Rip, my DA of a girlfriend told me the police painted a target on our backs, but I still wanna tell her that I’m a criminal.’_ How am I supposed to work this out? I don’t want to lie to her but I also don’t want to betray y’all.” Sara let her head sunk into her hands, just wanting to forget about the matter at hand.

“I don’t know, Sara,” Amaya laid a hand on her shoulder, “but what I do know is that you still have to tell her the truth.”

“Amaya’s right. But you should tell Rip too, we can figure out a way to sort this all out. We have to.” Now it was Zari’s turn to pull Sara into a hug.

“You’re right, both of you. And I guess I’ll tell Rip tomorrow. They won’t do anything before Wednesday anyway, and for now, I just have to survive a night surrounded by people working for the law enforcement.” Sara said after a moment of silence, sorting out her thoughts and sighed. She tried to keep her composure and not let herself be ripped apart by her own spiralling thoughts. Somehow she would make this all work. She _has_ to make it work.

“Come on, let’s give you those amazing smokey eyes so you drive everyone crazy with them,” Zari said and chuckled lightly to lighten the mood.

Ten minutes later, Sara was still anxious but she felt better now. As her doorbell rang, she inhaled a deep breath and smoothed down her dress one last time before she made her way to open the door.

Ava stood behind the door in a navy blue dress, her eyes widening for a second when she took Sara fully in and beamed at her when Sara opened the door properly to give her a kiss. They were interrupted by Zari clearing her throat.

“Oh hey, I didn’t notice you two were here,” Ava said, smiling sheepishly and waving at both women sitting on the couch.

“We kinda noticed that too,” Zari said deadpanned but Amaya chuckled beside her.

“Let’s go, babe,” she said, nudged her girlfriend’s shoulder affectionately and pulled Zari up from the couch, tugging her to the door. Amaya gave Sara a quick but tight hug, followed by Zari who did the same as well before whispering something in her ear.

“You got it, Sara. We make this work.”

Sara could only nod in response and then the two were out of the room, leaving Sara and Ava to themselves.

“You look…,” Sara thought of something to say when she took Ava all in, leaving her speechless for a moment.

“Ridiculous, right?” Ava asked self-consciously, making Sara smile as the situation reminded her of the one earlier. 

“No, no, Aves. You look good, well, hot, to be more precise,” Sara said with a suddenly raspy voice while pulling Ava into another kiss, more tender this time. She could feel the stiffness fading from Ava’s body when she placed her hands on her hips. “I kinda thought you would show up in one of your suits,” Sara added.

“Normally I would, but to such fancy events I stick to a dress. Besides, I wouldn’t want to steal the men’s show,” she winked at her, making Sara giggle, “and you don’t look so bad yourself,” Ava smirked at her.

“Not bad, huh? Guess you should take another woman with you, then,” Sara said mock-offended.

“But I want you, babe. Who’s gonna keep all the slobbering guys away from me?” Ava laughed and tugged Sara closer to her, kissing her once more.

“Well, that I can do, but only if I get another kiss,” Sara said, smirking when Ava leaned in immediately.

They shared a few kisses, just enjoying each other’s company. Although the last time they had seen each other was just a few hours ago, Sara had already missed her and was happy to have her around again.

“I guess we should leave now, the driver is waiting downstairs,” Ava said, pulling away and leaving only a few inches between them.

“Okay, I’m just grabbing my mask quickly, it should be over here.” Sara walked over to her coffee table. She found the mask where she had left it, lying on top of it, next to the glass of scotch she had poured herself earlier to calm down a bit. “I’m ready.”

They left the apartment, heading downstairs when Sara curled her fingers around Ava’s warm hand. The limousine waited outside for them and Sara walked just a bit faster to arrive at the door, before Ava so she could hold it open for her.  
She smirked flirtatious at Ava when the latter thanked her, taking Sara’s hand which she had held out for her to easily get into the car.

“You’re quite a gentlewoman, aren’t you, Sara?” she asked when the driver started the car and drove onto the highway into the city core.

“For those I find worthy, yes.” she tried to bite back another smirk but failed miserably, prompting one on Ava’s features too.

“So I am worthy?” Her voice teasing with a hint of seduction in it.

“You could say so,” Sara answered, and mid-sentence her voice began to sound a shade raspier than usual.

“Well, then I am glad because it would be a shame to have to leave you just because I’m not worthy of your chivalrousness,” Ava said, cocking up an eyebrow at Sara who was still smirking at her.

“I could never let down such a gorgeous woman.” The smirk increased on her features. She felt Ava lean in and was happy to let that smirk be washed away by a searing kiss Ava pressed on her lips, cupping one cheek while Sara held her hands on her hips.

The car stopped in front of a building Sara recognized as the city hall, completely enlightened by lights in front and on the building. A red carpet laid enrolled towards the entrance, and in a row before them several other overly expensive cars waited to let out the guests they had inside while music played in the background.

Sara quickly found herself counting all the security people, the obvious ones and the ones who badly tried to hide what they were here for. She counted twelve and she was certain there would be more security on the roofs around the building, maybe snipers too. She couldn’t help but eye them the whole time when they exited the car and walked to the entrance, their masks on now, her mind automatically activating her ‘assassin’ mode as she called it, scanning their movements, body language and everything else they might expose due to their behaviour.

She scanned the area while they waited to get inside, Ava held their invitations, but all the officers who were on duty tonight didn’t seem stressed which was a good sign. But Sara couldn’t stop thinking about the threat the police received from this Damien Darhk. She had done some research but found nothing special which was never a good thing in their business. Sara hadn’t asked Zari for help yet because first, she didn’t want to make her worry. And second, because she didn’t want her to be involved in anything more threatening than she already was. This guy didn’t seem like one who liked to be looked into and he sounded exactly like the kind who would get rid of a threat even before it would become a real one.

To her luck, Ava hadn’t noticed yet that her muscles started to tense and Sara wouldn’t want her to notice, she didn’t want to make her worry. She was just glad that she was here in case that anything would happen, that she was there to protect her.

They passed the security guards at the entrance and were frisked for weapons by two female officers. Somehow the lack of something to protect herself made Sara feel a kind of nakedness she wasn’t used to, a kind that she hated to feel. 

Just when both entered the foyer inside of the city hall someone called Ava’s name from their right side. A young woman approached them, around her waist laid gently the hand of what Sara suggested was her plus one.

“Rebecca,” Ava said a little surprised with the hint of a question in it and Sara wondered how Ava was able to recognize someone she seemed to know through the masks.

“Yeah, it’s me. I didn’t think I would run into you here, what a wonderful surprise,” Rebecca said, touching Ava’s right arm lightly and in an instant Sara could feel her whole body flinch, not liking that someone that wasn’t her was touching Ava. She wasn’t jealous, just protective. Sara could never forgive herself if something would happen to her, and at the end of the day she didn’t know the woman, so Sara eyed her cautiously.

“I moved here recently, working as the new DA. I didn’t know you worked here either. It’s nice to see you,” Ava said, and although her voice sounded as friendly as ever, Sara’s gut told her there was an edge in her voice. Just a little one, but there was something she just couldn’t place. As if she wasn’t happy at all to meet her again, what caused Sara just to look at her more carefully, her eyes more narrow than before.

“And I thought there was a mistake in the files.” The woman laughed a little and when Sara heard Ava forcing a laugh out she was even more certain there was something off. Ava didn’t seem like herself and she would make sure to ask her what was off between them, later.

After a quick small talk, which Ava didn’t seem to enjoy, Rebecca and her plus one excused themselves and greeted another pair as superficial as it had been with Sara and Ava. When they headed to their seats on a round table, between the bar and the dance floor, Sara asked Ava what was up with Rebecca.

“We met during law school,” Ava sighed, “At first she was kind and all. We talked and teamed up for an important assignment we had to do in pairs of two. Turns out, she did nothing and I did all the work. It worked out for her because I was so afraid of losing at least one person I could talk to so I just let it be as it was.”

“I hate such people. I mean, I’m not good in school but at least I don’t manipulate other people to do the whole work for me,” Sara said with a frown on her face, her gaze turning back to Rebecca, and she disliked her even more now.

“That wasn’t even all. She stopped talking as soon as the work was done and it was as if I had never existed for her. I got over it and promised myself to beat her in everything I laid my hands on. She kinda became my nemesis,” Ava giggled lightly and Sara’s heart made an almost successful attempt to burst out of her chest, a soft smile settling on her features. “Now I know better, I just don’t care about her anymore.” She made a small pause and her gaze wandered for a moment back to her ex-nemesis, a proud expression on her face which turned into a thoughtful as soon as she turned her eyes back to look at Sara. “You know, I’m convinced if you want to be good in school, you would be. I mean, have you thought about your future yet? After graduation?”

The easiness on Sara’s features faded away when she heard Ava’s words. Since she had decided to leave her criminal career behind her in the close future, she hadn’t even thought once about what she would do when she finished school. With her grades, the chances to become a surgeon equalled zero. “Not yet,” she answered hesitantly, “can we please not talk about school tonight? I want to have a beautiful night with my girlfriend, I want to drink with her and dance with her and kiss her-” while Sara talked she let her index finger trail over her cleavage to her arm, trailed down further and let her hand rest on her hip when Ava cut her off.

“Okay, okay, okay. You’re lucky you’re so sweet.” Ava chuckled lightly and poked Sara on the side, making her giggle.

“What about I get us drinks and you wait here for me, just as gorgeous as you are now so I can look at you and think about how lucky I am that I have you?” Sara asked and shot Ava a smirk when a blush crept her up its way to her cheeks, a shy smile playing on her lips.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ava answered and couldn’t hide the affection in her eyes when Sara gave her a quick kiss on her lips before she headed to the bar.

++++++++

Ava saw Sara waiting at the bar and felt her eyes on her body when the latter glanced at her with what Ava would swear were eyes a shade darker than usual. Her eyes were so trained on her girlfriend, full of fondness, that she missed the guy approaching her from behind.

“Miss Sharpe, I didn’t know I had the pleasure to sit beside you,” said the man Ava quick recognized as the voice of Police Captain Pike.

“Captain Pike, I didn’t know either, but it’s entirely my pleasure,” she answered and shook the hand he held out.

“At least I don’t have to have a terrible small talk with Mayor Pollard, I’m really bad at such things,” he laughed and Ava chuckled lightly. She just hoped he wouldn’t talk about the threat he received for this event. Just as Sara said, she wanted to have a joyful, relaxing night with her girlfriend. She didn’t need to have work talks through the entire thing. “By the way your dress is beautiful,” Pike continued.

“Thanks,” Ava answered and felt this conversation turning into an awkward direction.

At least he seemed to sense the discomfort Ava felt, “Sorry, as I said, I’m terrible at making small talk.” He laughed nervously.

“Maybe we should stop with small talk then,” Ava said, laughing a little to defuse the silence that began to settle in.

“Yeah, maybe that’s best. I wouldn’t want to let my wife, you and your plus one die of boredom,” he laughed further. After a little talk about work Ava had started to prevent this from falling into a strange silence, Pike got up from his seat.

“I’m sorry but Judy, my wife, texted me. She wants me to pick her up at the entrance. Now I just have to figure out who she is. Damn this masks,” he laughed a little nervously and walked away.

_No matter what mask Sara would wear, I would recognize her everywhere._

She smiled to herself at the thought, still couldn’t believe that she found someone who was so sincere and honest with her. Someone who was interested in her, someone who truly liked her and someone she hoped she would spend all her days with her.

Her smile intensified when she caught sight of Sara returning to their table with two amber drinks in her hands.

++++++++

Sara couldn’t tear her eyes away from Ava the whole time she waited for the bartender to acknowledge her, afraid that when she would turn away she was gone like the only good dream she ever had. She didn’t even turn her gaze away when the bartender asked her what drink she wanted. Ordering two doubled whiskey for them, she looked at Ava while the latter had a conversation with a man she recognized as Captain Pike.

While Sara waited for their drinks and watched Ava talking, she kept her senses active, scanning for everything that would be a possible threat to her, and more importantly, to Ava. She didn’t trust the peace, the alcohol, the food or the loud music. Seeing all the other people busy and even the guards at ease, left her uneasy. It was almost too calm. Normal people would have taken this as a good sign but Sara knew how devastating it could be not to pay attention. She had to learn that all by herself, many of her scars showed that and all of the guards and other people she had knocked out even more.  
She couldn’t trust them with Ava’s security. She could never forgive herself if anything would happen to Ava, she couldn’t let someone she loved down again.

The bartender caught her attention and handed her the drinks she ordered. She smiled at Ava when she saw Pike leaving and Ava turning her gaze towards Sara.

“Hey,” she said when she gave Ava her drink and sat down beside her.

“Hey,” Ava replied softly, stroking one hand over Sara’s thigh.

“So captain Pike is joining us, huh?” Sara hoped she would be able to avoid any questions about her dad, about her family in general.

“Yeah, he was just picking up his wife at the entrance.” Both of them remained silent for a few moments until Ava’s expression turned from the soft smile that had lingered on her lips since Sara had joined her into one more thoughtful. “What exactly is the deal between you and him?”

Sara stiffed immediately, a breath stuck in her throat and she barely felt the hand that lay on her thigh. Her pulse increased what felt like tenfold but she couldn’t move at all, although the need to escape this situation took control over her almost in an instant.

“Everything okay?” although Ava sat only inches away, Sara couldn’t hear her.

“Sara?”

The only thing she felt was Ava’s warm hand changing its place from her thigh to her cheek, turning her head so that she must have been looking directly in Ava’s eyes; if she could have seen anything other than the scene playing in her head. The moment she had heard Pike saying that Laurel was dead, that she was found on a street near Oliver’s apartment. The moment when Sara had known it had been her fault.

A moment later she was pulled out of her thoughts by soft lips connecting to the skin of her cheek. Sara had to squeeze her eyes shut for a moment, pulling her head back into reality. As soon as she opened her eyes she heard Ava say something, “Hey, what’s going on? Where have you gone?”  
Ava’s hand, just as warm as her other, grabbed her shoulder and began to draw light patterns with her thumb over her shoulder.

“I-I’m sorry, Aves,” Sara choked out.

“There’s no need to be sorry about anything, Sara,” Ava said, trying to catch Sara’s gaze. “I just want to make sure that you are okay, okay? If you’d like you can tell me what’s going on, but you don’t have to,” she continued, her voice reassuring.

“No, no. It’s fine, I’m just-” Sara tried to keep her voice steady but failed miserably.

“It’s obviously not, Sara,” Ava cut her off, her voice firm but gentle, and held up her hand when Sara wanted to protest, “I just want to make sure you know that I’m here for you.”

“Thanks, Aves,” Sara inhaled a deep breath, preparing herself. “It’s just that he, Pike, was the one who told us about Laurel’s-” She needed to let out a shaky breath, telling herself that everything was fine and that Ava was with her, that nothing could happen to her. “He came to us the morning after Laurel died, he told us about it.”

“Oh, Sara.” Ava’s voice was filled with sincere empathy, making Sara’s heart ache more when she saw the worry on her face and the caring look in her eyes.

“It’s just that every time I see him, it reminds me of the moment, the pain and the problems it caused and- and the guilt I feel.” Her voice sounded as defeated as her shoulders as they turned down.

“I can’t even imagine how that makes you feel every second you see him.” The look in her eyes was honest and even though Ava hadn’t said anything more than that, she acknowledged her feelings which made Sara feel better immediately. “Maybe I can try to change seats, let me see what I can do,” Ava said and was about to push herself out of her seat when Sara caught her arm and held her back, a questioning look on Ava’s features.

“You don’t have to do that-” Sara started but Ava cut her off.

“That’s the least I can do. I mean, it was me who put you in this situation in the first place.”

“Ava, you pulled me out of this before it really started. You are here for me, you care about how I feel and the most important part, you didn’t hesitate to change everything. But I have to get over this, I don’t want to be a slave of my anxiety, my emotions in general anymore. It will take time, but I know that with you by my side I can do it.” Sara didn’t know where all this came from but she did know that it was true, true from the bottom of her heart. And she knew she had said the right thing when she saw a smile breaking through Ava’s worry.

_Hopefully you’re still here when I finally can tell you everything. When the jobs are done and I’m able to free myself from this burden._

“Okay. As I said, I’m here for you,” Ava said reassuringly and stroked over Sara’s cheek, cupped it and brought their foreheads together. Feeling warm spreading through her body, Sara began to smile herself. The armour Ava gave her shielding her again.

A few minutes later Pike and his wife came back and sat down on the other side of the round table. “Finally,” he said jokingly.

“It’s not my fault you’re not able to recognize your own wife when she wears a mask, Frank,” Judy said a little cheeky but poked him fondly on his side, causing him to laugh.

“Well, at least we’re not outnumbering you anymore,” he addressed Ava, “who’s the lucky one?”

“Sara,” Ava said, her lips quirking up in a smile when she saw the puzzled look on their faces.

“You’re not- Are you speaking of Sara Lance-Sara? No, that cannot be, she was so small when I properly saw her the last time,” he said, laughing a little at first, as if the idea was ridiculous, but his voice became smaller when he seemed to remember when the last time was.

Sara flinched a little when she remembered too but the warm hand in her lap made her overcome the upcoming guilt quickly. She looked at Ava with thankful but still apologetic eyes, the latter just smiling reassuringly at her, calming Sara down further and easing the increasing heartbeat she had felt the moment her mind had caught up with all the possibilities this night could hold for her, or against her.

“Apparently she is.” Sara had successfully drawn the attention on the table to her, smirking at Pike’s processing look on his face, his mouth hanging slightly agape.

“So when we were-” he addressed Ava but didn’t finish his sentence, instead took the nod she gave him as an answer to his unfinished question. “So you two are-” He couldn’t finish the second question either because he was cut off by Sara who wanted to get over with this as soon as possible, because it was obvious that they were dating and she couldn’t understand why he needed so much time to process the bit information he just got.

“Yes, Ava and I are dating,” Sara said, suppressing an annoyed eye roll.

“That’s great!” his wife exclaimed and smiled warmly at them and Sara forced her features to smile back although the whole situation was kind of strange, sitting with her father’s ex-boss at a table with her girlfriend and his wife.

“Well, obviously you changed a lot during these last years.”

_You don’t say._

“Anyway,” he continued, “How’s Quentin? The last time I saw him was shortly after he had been dismissed,” his voice was friendly but that didn’t stop Sara from resenting him for this question because she felt all the hurting and painful memories kicking in in an instant.

_Sara came home straight from school. Well, at least that was what she would say to her dad. She wouldn’t tell him that she was on the cemetery again, it would only hurt him even more if she kept mentioning the place where they had buried Laurel a few weeks ago. It was hurting him enough that her murderer - the police was certain it was murder - hadn’t been caught yet, and currently her dad was either stressed because he wanted to catch the guy or hurt from the freshly experienced loss._   
_Her mother on the other side hadn’t been home at all. She took one overtime shift after the next at work and would come home late to go right to sleep, barely saying a word to either her dad or her, and then one day, Sara came home and she just wasn’t there anymore. Sara could understand it, everyone processed a loss differently, but that didn’t mean Sara wasn’t hurting. On the contrary, she had lost her sister and she knew it was her fault; and she also knew she would carry this guilt forever with her._   
_She hadn’t told anyone what happened that night, she couldn’t even tell the police or her parents about the voicemails she found the next morning on her phone when it finally was charged again. And after Pike had come to say what happened to Laurel, Sara couldn’t bear to hear her voice, she couldn’t bear to hear Laurel screaming at her and hear what she might have said the last moments she lived. So when the police came up with the last calls Laurel had made, Sara just said she hadn’t heard them and Laurel hadn’t left any voicemails._

_She unlocked the door and as soon as she entered the living room to see where her dad was, the biting smell of alcohol crept its way up her nose. That was when she saw the body lying on the couch, if one would call 'hanging partially over the armrest' lying on a couch._

_Sara knew her dad started to drink more than usual after Laurel died, she knew he did it to try to stop his grief from hurting him, but Sara felt like she was all alone. Since he started drinking and since her mother was practically not around anymore. No one would talk about how she felt, and if they would try to talk to her she was certain she wouldn’t have let them in any way, because she was too afraid of what they might think of her. She couldn’t tell anyone the truth. Her parents would hate her even more than they already did and now with Laurel gone, Sara wouldn’t be able to do as good as Laurel had and that would make them realize that Sara was all fucked-up. Maybe they would wish that instead of Laurel, Sara was the one gone. Sara started to thought that herself._

_But how could she not?_

_She had slept with her sister’s boyfriend, and she hadn’t told anyone. She hadn’t picked up when Laurel called her, what most certainly had cost her her life. Of all people she could have called, their dad, their mom, Oliver himself, Tommy, she had chosen Sara. And Sara had betrayed her. Every time she started to think about that, she had to keep herself from crying. And almost every time she failed miserably. Sara didn’t even know if she had the right to hurt from Laurel's death, if she had the right to cry, to feel grief and to visit her grave. She felt like she did not, because of what she had done. But still, she couldn’t keep herself from feeling and do all that. The only thing she knew she deserved to feel was the guilt she carried with her, the guilt that wandered beside her, knocking her out every night and woke her up every morning, pulling her out of the nightmares that started the day after Laurel died._

_She had had walls before, but now she built them incredibly higher, invincible, and maybe, if she wouldn’t let anyone in, she could keep her emotions in a tiny box hidden in the back of her mind, pushing all feelings away as if she had none. But even now she had the wish that at least someone would tell her that everything was going to be okay, that everything would be good._

_Sara made her way to her bedroom upstairs, passing by Laurel’s old bedroom, and as soon as her gaze wandered over to the wooden door she felt herself tearing up, not for the first time that day and surely not for the last time. Trying to hold her tears back, she shut her eyes and pushed the door to her room open, snuggling her head into Laurel’s old high school hoodie and inhaling her smell as if it could prevent her from falling apart._

_Hours later, Sara had no clue how much time had passed by, someone knocked on her door, opening it, and Sara could make out it was the footsteps of her dad._

_”Sara,” he called, and Sara could tell that he was either still drunk or had drunk again, “I’ll order pizza for dinner." His words were slurred and Sara hated every single one of them because he had chosen to drink instead of talking to her. Instead of helping each other with their grief, he drowned his problems in alcohol._

_”I want nothing to eat,” she said._

_“But you have to eat something.”_

_“I am not hungry, Dad,” Sara barely had any appetite since Laurel died and just the thought about food made her stomach churn._

_“It’s not healthy, Sara,” he sounded more annoyed now. Since the alcohol was his daily companion he became quicker annoyed or angry and Sara knew it would backfire one day._

_“But I don’t want anything, okay? I. Am. Not. Hungry.” Sara’s voice came out harsh. She just wanted to be alone, dealing with the agonizing feeling of loneliness inside her. The void Laurel had left that she thought no one could ever fill._

_“Don’t make this about yourself, Sara. Laurel is dead and I just want to take care of you, the daughter I have left,” now his voice was a mixture of hurt and anger but Sara couldn’t care less._

_“I’m not making anything about myself. I’m just not hungry and also I don’t want to eat with you while you’re drunk the entire time,” she bit back._

_“I’m not drunk!”_

_“Yes you are,” Sara’s voice rose, “every single day. You were lying on the couch, passed out at the same place you lay when I left the house this morning.” Hurt flashed across his eyes but it left as soon as it had appeared and was replaced by a sudden coldness._

_“Somehow I have to process that my daughter, my baby girl, died. At least I am honest with you.”_

_“What do you mean?” Anxiety took control over Sara’s body. Her mouth became dry and her hands sweaty, feeling a tremor settling in._

_“I know where you were the night before- before she died. You were at a party with Queen. Moira talked to me yesterday and mentioned that he was at the same party you said you would be going with Ashley and Megan.”_

_She had said that to meet with him and now, that her Dad seemed to know, Sara suddenly couldn’t breathe. She tried to, but it was as if her lungs weren’t working anymore. Her blood ran cold and she felt her limbs getting numb, a sound ringing inside her head._

_“And that he didn’t come home that night as he said he would, and I remembered that I heard you coming home in the early morning and then it dawned to me. The look you gave him every time he stayed over, the way he looked at you.” He made a small pause, his eyes trained on her, not letting go of her gaze and she was caught in it like a deer in headlights._

_“It’s all about you, it’s your fault. She told me she was on the way to Oliver’s apartment but hung up soon after she arrived. She must have seen you and hadn’t paid attention. It’s you, Sara. Why is it always you?”_

_”Dad I-,” she whispered but couldn’t finish her sentence because the words stuck in her throat._

_“Laurel died because you were selfish. She is dead because of you.” He said it with a coldness Sara had never seen on anyone ever before, and it let her blood freezing inside her. Her brain short-circuited and she pushed him out of her way and ran. Ran out of her room, their house, the street. She ran until she discovered the clocktower, guilt and hurt consuming every inch of her body. And then there was only hollowness._

Once more Ava seemed to sense Sara’s discomfort and squeezed her hand, showing Sara that she noticed how she felt and that she was right there. It pulled her out of the memory, bringing her back into reality, to her girlfriend. Tugging her away from the person she had been, back to the person she wanted to be.

“He’s good,” Ava said and tried to let it sound as believable as possible, and Sara couldn’t be more thankful for Ava’s help because her throat was still tight, trying not to let out the choking sob she was holding back. She had to close her eyes briefly for a second to hold the tears at bay, not wanting either to explain everything to Pike or ruining their date.

“That’s good to hear. I was really sorry when I had to dismiss him but I thought back then it was the best to keep him away from falling apart.” His words were sincere and Sara could see the honesty in his eyes, but she didn’t want to hear that from him. In fact the decision he made had been one of the circumstances that had let to Quentin’s downfall as a father.  
When he had nothing to keep him away from drinking anymore. Sara could tell he felt useless and was frustrated because he was unable to find the man who killed his own daughter. The police didn’t even had a hunch about the person who did it. There had been no pieces of evidence at all.   
Quentin wasn’t violent, he didn’t hurt her in a physical way but the things he kept saying while he was barely conscious did hurt her. They engraved themselves in her mind and in the first years she kept repeating them to herself. She believed them and it made her feel like she wasn’t worth the love of someone at all.

It got a little better when Zari and Amaya came into her life, but the words were still present in her mind, only getting better with every love-filled look Ava gave her, with every affectionate smile she shot her and with every sincere word she said to her without even knowing what she did.

She could understand her father, although now she thought she should have left earlier, maybe she wouldn’t have suffered from the things he said for more than five years. But on the other hand she deserved them. She knew Laurel’s death had been her fault, she felt it every second with every fibre of her body. But knowing that another person, her dad to whom she had looked up, hated her for what she had done so badly despite the guilt she felt, made it unbearable for her to live on like that. And at some point she had never looked back.

Maybe he was different now. Maybe not. Sara hadn’t thought about going back since she got out of it. She needed all the time to work through what happened by herself, and now, with someone she actually wanted to talk about it, she felt like she hadn’t even scratched the surface of what lay behind all those anxieties she felt and the things that kept repeating themselves in her brain. Sara felt like she was just at the beginning of making peace with her past and maybe that was exactly it. Maybe she wasn’t able before because she felt like she deserved the guilt, she still believed that, but now she felt like she deserved to carry on as well. Maybe she was allowed to feel grief about Laurel but she wouldn’t betray her again when she would finally let go of her. That didn’t meant that Sara would want to forget her but that she finally wanted to be free from hurt and guilt.  
And now she was given a second chance by doing things better now with Ava by her side.

For several seconds an odd silence hung over the table and although Sara had been almost entirely wrapped up in her thoughts, she had kept at least a little of her attention on the entrance of the bathrooms on this floor to which she had a direct line of vision. And just when her head stopped swirling around all that had happened between her dad and her, she noticed a person coming out of the men’s restroom with something that didn’t looked like the tux all the other men were wearing. Instead, it looked more like a cheap suit, his mask was maybe one from a toy store nearby. She could tell at first sight, this guy clearly didn’t belong in here.

“Excuse me, I’m heading to the restroom,” Sara said, her voice no longer unsteady but filled with determination. Whoever this was, she wouldn’t let them start what they wanted to. At least he didn’t look like a master criminal, because then he had a better tux and wouldn’t just stand around there, doing nothing.

Ava grabbed her wrist, turning her upper body around to meet Sara’s gaze, “Everything okay, Sara?” The concern in her voice was obvious but Sara just nodded and gave her a small smile, so Ava let go of her wrist.

“I’ll be right back,” she said and she meant it to be. But it became even more urgent because a second man in the same crappy outfit joined the first.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t willing to knock them out all by herself, but there were too many people around. So she would use another tactic. She would try to get them off the building and then maybe she got the chance to get rid of them outside.

When she was halfway to the restrooms, she turned around and saw Ava wrapped up in a conversation with Judy and Pike. When Ava didn’t look over, Sara took the chance to change her walking into one that looked like she was heavily drunk, swaying as she made sure to almost run into some other people who just glared at her but minded their own business and continued whatever they were doing.

She reached the two men, as they now stood between her and the lady’s restroom door. She made a fake attempt to go past them and bumped into the one on the left.

“Watch your steps!” The taller man of the two sounded quite nervous and glared at her.

_Gottcha._ Sara thought.

“I’m sorry though, your massive body was just in my way,” she kept her voice low and slurred her words heavily, cocking a challenging eyebrow at him.

The second man put his hand on the other man’s arm, meaning to keep him calm. “It’s not worth it.”

But instead of calming him down, his head became red when Sara let her lips form a smirk, matching the challenging look in her eyes.

“What were you saying?” His voice was even louder now and Sara could tell he must be more nervous than she actually thought. Maybe completely new to the business because being so loud would definitively catch someone’s attention, and that was exactly what Sara wanted to happen.

“Is there a problem here?” One of the guards from their right approached them and Sara changed her features into an apologetic look in an instant. Straightened her back and shook off the drunk attitude.

“No, but these gentlemen wouldn’t let me into the women’s restroom,” her voice was friendly now, even more than she had intended it to be.

“She just run into us and insulted me!” He almost called out, and Sara, watching the expression on the guard’s face, had to hold back a smirk because his features turned from a bored look into an annoyed one.

“No, that isn’t true. I just wanted to use the restroom when he placed himself directly in my way and wouldn’t let me pass by,” she said innocently, shooting him a charming smile and she knew she succeeded when she saw how he ruffled up his chest.

“Well this is a serious party and when I’m looking at you, you don’t seem like people who belong here. You should leave.” He sounded serious and judging by how Sara saw the muscles on his jaw tighten, presumably preparing himself for a confrontation.

“I’m rightfully here and just because this bitch is provoking everyone around here, I won’t have to leave.” He sounded aggressive and made a step towards him.

“Excuse me?!” Sara scoffed.

The guard activated the comm in his ear, “Can someone come to the restrooms on the ground floor, please?” Then he continued talking to the two men, the smaller one was still strangely silent and looked a bit nervous, shifting from one foot to the other. “Would you please hand me your invitations?”

“We left them inside our car,” now the smaller one spoke but said nothing further as if it would explain their inappropriate outfits and behaviour.

“Well then let’s get you outside so you can show them to me,” the guard said surprisingly calm. Maybe he was just trying to remain so so that the conversation between them wouldn’t worry anyone around.

“Mitchell, would you help me bring these gentlemen outside?” The guard addressed the other one coming from behind.

“Hey, I did nothing. It was her!” The aggressive taller one spat and was guided outside from Mitchell. Sara had to bite back a chuckle when he started to yell at the man who grabbed his arm tightly.

“Thank you,” she said to the other guard and gave him a smile, he nodded and guided the other man outside. The smaller one of the duo was oddly silent but maybe he had his temper better under control and knew that gaining attention wasn’t the thing you want when want to get a job done.

Sara made her way to the restrooms and swivelled around once more, checking out where Ava’s attention was drawn to. She was still wrapped up in a conversation with the couple at their table but now there was another woman she hadn’t seen before, talking to Ava with a grin on her face.

Sara felt herself frowning over the scene, although Ava didn’t reciprocate the grin, instead just giving her a polite smile, but Sara thought it should be her sitting next to Ava right now. But at the same time she wanted to keep her safe, and since the two just entered the building without causing any attention, Sara thought she should take a peek at the restrooms, looking for weapons or other stuff they could’ve brought with them.

She sighed and turned around, assuring herself that no one was looking when she opened the door to the men’s restroom. Going through the room, her senses already in assassin mode, she saw that no one was inside but the window at the back was open wide. As she made her way over to the window she saw a backpack lying on the ground. She crouched down, taking two tissues from the board nearby, opened it and saw two M16 assault rifles military standard inside.

_So you were up to something… But why leaving those here and not attacking directly?_

She stopped thinking when she heard the two men from minutes ago speaking outside.

“We need to get inside again!” the taller one said.

“I know but we have to be careful. Something was off with this girl. Did you see the look in her face?”

“I know who I’ll shoot first when I get my hands at those guns.” At that Sara clenched her jaw. She assumed they were not yet in front of the window. It was her chance, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard the smaller one speaking.

“You know Darhk ordered us to not shoot anyone, just keep them busy so the police focusses on them instead of their building. He’s gonna be pissed when they don’t get those files about him.”

Besides the fact that it was incredibly dumb to talk about such important informations out loud, Sara knew what she had to do. She would knock them out and head back to Ava as soon as possible and tell her what she had just heard so maybe the police would be able to caught the guys who will get those files.

She jumped out of the window, landing behind them when they turned around utterly surprised.  
“What the-,” the taller one said and took a step towards her.

Kicking off her shoes, Sara let a grin settle on her features. “Missed me?” She tilted her head to her right and lifted up an eyebrow. Thankfully her dress was cut open on her right thigh, giving her the ability to move properly.

“You bitch!” he said and immediately took two long strides to her, trying to punch her directly in the face with a messy right hook. He may have had a gun in his hand before, but clearly had no hand to hand combat experience.  
She launched forward when she saw him move and checked the hook by placing her right hand on his right forearm, making a step to her right with her right foot to bring herself out of his central line. She saw that it took him completely off guard, just like the other guy behind him, his mouth falling agape.

Sara swivelled around by bringing her left foot behind her right, turning herself around leftwards, using the twist of her hip as an amplifier for the elbow strike with her left. Her back was now in front of him but he was unable to make a move when he stumbled backwards by the strength with what she hit him.  
With her right hand she still held the unfinished hook under control but let it go when she fulfilled the half turning she begun with the elbow strike and finished it with a devastating uppercut which send him to the ground, unconscious.

It only took her a few seconds, but those seconds were enough for the other opponent to get out of his surprised state and pull out a knife. She jumped out of the way when he launched towards her, cutting through the air where she had stood a moment before. She had to dodge another cut that would have definitely cut through her throat. That surely wasn’t the first time he fought with a knife in his hands. Another cut was thrown her way and she tried to dodge once more, but she knew she failed when she felt a piercing ache on her left arm. It couldn’t be deep but it hurt enough to lower her attention about her surroundings a little. Enough for him to try to cut her once more. She dodged it but it was close, too close for her liking. Pushing away the rising sting in her arm, she focused again, her eyes shining up with new gained determination. She had to knock him out, she would knock him out. Otherwise he could hurt Ava. And she couldn’t lose her, not now when she finally tried to carry on from the loss of Laurel.

With newfound willpower she dodged another cut and placed herself behind him, kicking down into his popliteal space. Unfortunately, he still managed to turn around and used the energy to cut in a diagonal line upwards. He missed her but was once again very close.

They circled around for a few seconds but then he moved forward once more. This time he aimed for her throat and the strike would have been deadly if her instincts wouldn’t have taken control over her completely. She ducked away and blocked the next strike against her temple from his left side with the knife in his right hand. Blocking with her right, she went to a quick check with her left, grabbed it and spun herself around under his arm right arm. His back was now in front of her, his right trapped in her right hand, her left elbow pressed on the nerve above his right elbow, making him hissing in pain. Unable to hold the knife any longer, he let it fall and she kicked her foot in his popliteal space again, forcing him kneel in front of her. Sara let go of his arm but instead clung her right arm around his throat, his shoulder and arm over hers, making it unable for him to move it, and grabbed with her right hand her left arm which she placed as a stabilizer for the choke on his neck. Her left hand grabbed tightly around her right shoulder and as she applied pressure to his carotid she felt his other hand grabbing in panic around her right arm, trying to loosen the grip. She held it until she felt his limbs became limp as he lost the grip. She let him fall down, his body lying on the ground unconscious just as his partner.

Sara kicked the knife away, slipping in her high heels and climbing back through the window, quickly making her way out of the restroom to get back to her table. She saw that the other woman was still there and talking to Ava, and they obviously seemed to be enjoying themselves, but Sara couldn't care less at the moment. She just wanted to share what she had heard the two men saying. From what she knew it could ruin their case, and Ava seemed to work hard on it so she did all she could to support her work, to be there for her.

Sara made as long strokes as she could and hissed at the pain that radiated from the cut on her shoulder, it hurt but thankfully it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

“Ava,” Sara said, drawing the attention towards her. “I need to tell you something,” she continued and even though she schooled her features to be calm, she could immediately see the worry on Ava’s face when she heard the distress in Sara’s voice. “And you too, Pike,” she addressed him, it wouldn’t make sense to hide that from him.

“What is it? And what happened to your arm?” Ava asked with a frown.

“When I went to the restrooms, there were two guys. They talked about Darhk and about a diversionary tactic to get some files from the SCPD. They had weapons with them.”

“Are you okay?” Ava’s voice was filled with worry and she didn’t even seem to try to hide her concern. When Sara saw the look on her face and felt the hand that inspected the cut on her shoulder, her heart was filled with warmth and if they weren’t in this situation she would have kissed her. But now there was no time for that.

“I am. I got them kicked out and discovered the weapons in the men’s restroom. I followed them outside and heard them talk about Darhk, then I decided it would be best to fight them. I didn’t want to give them the choice to hurt anyone,” Sara said and cupped Ava’s cheek with her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. “I couldn’t let them hurt you,” she whispered so that only Ava could hear it, Ava’s eyes getting soft in the moment she heard it.

“Oh, Sara,” Ava said affectionately. “Well, I think it’s time for this night to end then.” Her gaze turned from her to Pike, giving him an earnest look. “You go informing the precincts and a guard to turn the two men in. I’m going to talk to the supervisor around here, we need to get the two men out of here and their weapons too.” She got up but Sara stopped her from walking away.

“What about me?”

“You already did enough, stay here. I don’t want to pull you into more danger,” Ava unwinded her arm from her hand and Sara couldn’t hold back a pout.

_If only you would know._

“So you’re benching me?” She crossed her arms, knowing that Ava only wanted to do what she thought was right and safe, but she also wanted to do everything she could to keep Ava safe.

“I wanna keep you safe.” In the corner of her eye, Sara saw Pike and Judy leaving, Pike heading quickly to one of the guards.

“You know, I’m able to handle myself very well.” She couldn’t risk letting Ava go without her, she didn’t know if there were more men waiting and she wouldn’t want for Ava to find that out alone.

“I know, babe. But this is bigger than two guys with gu-”

“Aves, seriously, I won’t let you go alone,” Sara told her and added an insisting look to her statement. She knew she had won when she heard Ava sigh and roll her eyes with affection.

“Okay,” Ava said and both blondes got up from their table, walking through the groups of people to the big stairs leading to the first floor where the security supervisor had his office.

Ava knocked on the door and a woman opened it a minute later.

“What’s the matter?” she asked with a frown.

“I’m DA Ava Sharpe and this is Sara Lance; we wanted to report an important security matter,” Ava said with seriousness, taking her mask off and Sara followed suit.

“My name is Camilla Garcia. Come in, please,” she said motioning for them to sit down in front of her desk. Sara took the room fully in when she had sat down. Several monitors were on her desk, showing all the cameras and plans of the building, Sara assumed. She could hear calls from the door. Some men, guards and the police could be heard talking outside the building.

“Captain Pike already knows, he sat at the table when Sara told us about everything. He’s currently informing the precincts for possible backup. Sara, you want to tell what you heard and saw?” Ava asked her and gave her the reassuring smile she needed.

Sara nodded. This whole situation was bizarre, working for the police, but she knew she had to do it if she finally wanted to do the right thing. For her, for Laurel, and for Ava.

She took a deep breath and started to speak about how she noticed the two men, how she got them outside, found the weapons and heard what they said.

“I thought it would be best to get rid of them. I didn’t want to give them any chance to attack all the people in here,” Sara told them further, suddenly self-conscious about knocking them out was the right choice to make in that particular situation.

“Even though that was a bit of an unorthodox approach to this situation, I think it was the right one. If these people would’ve gotten their hands on those guns who knows what could’ve happened. You did the right thing and it was incredibly brave too. Thank you, Sara,” the woman said with an acknowledging nod towards her, giving her a small smile. But more important was the look Ava gave her, a proud smile, squeezing her hand under the desk. For a moment Sara had thought Ava wouldn’t like what she did, but the fact that she was proud of her, that she smiled the warm smile she loved seeing on her features, meant everything to Sara. “I think we have to put an end to this situation. I can’t risk everyone’s life here for no reason when there could be more of Darhk’s men coming.”

“I think that’s best. But thanks to you we may have two new witnesses against Darhk and your testimony,” Ava addressed Camilla first, and then Sara. But when she mentioned that Sara would have to make a testimony a sudden fear overcome her. Not only because the last time she had to do it was when Laurel died, it was because of her phone calls, but more importantly because she would be venturing directly into the lion’s den. Despite that, she managed to regain her composure almost as fast as she had lost it.

“That’s… That’s great, Aves,” Sara said and smiled at the glance in Ava’s eyes.

“Thank you for your help. Have a nice evening,” the woman said and got up, extending her hand first to Ava, then to Sara, giving them both a firm handshake.

“Good luck with everything,” Ava said and Sara nodded along. Afterwards, both women left the office, leaving the other woman to herself.

When they walked down the stairs, wearing their masks again, Ava laid her hand gently around Sara’s waist, making her glance at the taller blonde with a questioning look on her face.

“What about we get dinner somewhere else?” Ava asked and shot Sara an endearing smile, her greyish-blues shining bright, making Sara almost forget to answer the question.

“Yeah, why not. Since we’re already wearing the proper clothes,” she chuckled and at the sound of Ava’s chuckle, all her insecurities from the whole night vanished.

“Let me take you somewhere fancy, since this ball didn’t really worked out.”

“Aves, you don’t need to-”

“I want to, Sara. You saved my ass, again,” Ava cut Sara off, and placed her index finger on Sara’s lips. She started to pout and although Sara would deny to every other human being that it actually worked, she couldn’t resist the woman in front of her. She wouldn’t even try to do so.

“Okay,” Sara whispered and pulled Ava in for a tender kiss, taking her hand and pulling her out of the building, heading into the cold night.

\---------------------------------------------------------

They had found a lovely Italian restaurant near the city hall. It was fancy, but not fancy enough to make Sara feel uncomfortable. Soft violin music played in the background and the waiter had given them a table in the corner of the restaurant where they were almost all to themselves.

“This night was crazy, huh?” Ava prompted and Sara chuckled, then let out a sigh.

“Yes, it was.”

“I’m really glad you noticed them. I don’t know what I would’ve done if they had crushed the whole event.”

“Yeah, me too. But let’s not talk about that anymore, shall we?” Sara said and curled her fingers around Ava’s, giving her hand a tight squeeze.

“Okay,” Ava answered and gave her an affectionate smile.

Their ordered food arrived while music played in the background, and the candlelight created a cosy atmosphere around them enlightening their eyes, and Sara would have sworn that Ava’s eyes were a shade darker than back at the masked ball. They ate in comfortable silence until Sara suddenly saw a frown settling on Ava’s features which were perfectly relaxed before.

“Everything okay, Aves?” She asked, laying down her fork beside the plate with the best pasta she had ever eaten in her whole life.

“Yeah, it’s just… Nevermind, I don’t want to ruin the moment,” Ava said hesitantly, and failed the attempt to hide her worried gaze with busying herself with her pasta.

Sara gently took Ava’s hand in hers and began do draw light patterns on her palm whilst trying to catch her eyes. When Ava wouldn’t turn up her gaze from her food, Sara used her other hand to cup her cheek and lift her head upwards. She gave her a reassuring smile and lifted one eyebrow up.

“What do you want to ask me?” she asked gently, and she knew she hit the right button when Sara saw a light flush creeping up Ava’s neck. It’s not that she hadn’t already have a hint about what Ava could ask her.

“I don’t want to pressure you into saying anything you wouldn’t want. I mean we met like two weeks ago and as I said I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or pressure you or ruin the night, because I like this, going out with you and I wanted to dance with you. I wanted to have you all to myself, is that selfish?” Ava sighed and closed her eyes for a second, letting her head fall backwards. Sara for her part, found it incredibly cute and if the table wouldn’t have kept them apart from each other, she would have definitely kissed her to stop her from rambling. “Can we just forget that I said anything and go on with our date?” she continued and shot Sara a sheepish smile, pouting a little.

“Is this about my dad?” Sara asked, her voice neither hurt or hesitant, just gentle, keeping her eyes locked onto Ava’s.

“No... I mean maybe?” she questioned more than answered. “Is it bad? I don’t want you to tell me something you don’t want to tell me. I should let you decide when you’re goi-”

“Aves,” Sara cut her off and emphasized her name with a firm kiss on her knuckles which stopped her from starting to ramble in an instant. A vulnerable expression flickered through her eyes with a hint of fear that Sara cutting her off was a bad thing. But in less than a second a soft look settled inside her eyes, letting Sara’s heart beat faster. She was still not used to someone looking at her like that.  
“You know, I think I want to tell you what happened.” She really wanted, since their conversation with Captain Pike she didn’t only feel like she could trust Ava with everything. No, she _wanted_ to trust her with everything. She wanted to tell her all, everything she had been through. Everything that shaped her personality, everything, so she could finally come at peace with her past. And for this story it seemed like the right moment for her.

“You sure? I mean, I want to know because I want to be able to be here for you, Sara. I want for us to be able to talk about everything,” Ava told her, and the sincerity caught Sara off guard, let her heart grow in size and pump love through her veins as if it was blood.

“I’m sure,” she answered after she had fallen silent for a moment just to stare at the wonderful woman in front of her. This time Ava took Sara’s hand in hers, giving it a squeeze.

_At least this is something I can talk to her about._

“I’m all ears,” Ava said with a gentle voice.

“Well...” Sara inhaled deeply and although she wanted to talk about it, she felt her throat tighten anyway. Maybe it was because she had never talked to someone else other than Zari and Amaya about it. But even they didn’t know the full story. She had just told them that she was at a party and was supposed to be home, and that Laurel had looked for her when she wasn’t there and got murdered along the way. The pain about admitting the whole thing with Oliver was too big as that she was able to talk about it back then. She didn’t know if she would be able to talk about it now. Even though she had the feeling she could, Sara was unsure of the amount of pain it would cause her. But she would tell Ava, eventually.

“My dad, he started drinking when Laurel… died,” it was still hard to say that out loud, even though Sara knew she wasn’t here anymore, “The longer he was caught in his grief, the more he drank, and eventually my mom wasn’t around anymore. She left after a few weeks, I told you about that,” Sara stopped to inhale another breath, it was shakier than the one before but she would tell Ava, she finally wanted to control her feelings, not let herself be controlled by them.

“I remember,” Ava reassured her, and her voice sounded so tender that it almost increased the ache in Sara’s chest, but the fond and assuring look Ava had in her eyes made her feel stronger.

“He was so angry and hurt because he couldn’t work on the case and stop the bastards who had done that to her.” Feeling anger flash up inside her, she feared losing control over her emotions for a moment. Sara felt herself clenching her hand into a fist but she stopped when she felt Ava’s hand giving her’s a tight squeeze, pulling her out of the anger that was starting to rise, in an instant, so that Sara had to look at her for a moment, admiring Ava once more.

_What on earth makes me deserve you?_

She inhaled another shaky breath and continued, “Totally frustrated, he had been home all day after Pike thought it would be better for him to suspend him, so that he could take time off to deal with his grief. But it didn’t help at all. On the contrary, the situation became much worse. He was drunk almost the entire time, and then there was this day when he came up and I finally confronted him with his drinking problem because I couldn’t bear watching him drowning himself in alcohol, while I still suffered from the death of my sister and my mother leaving me all alone.”   
A stray tear rolls down her cheek and she had to close her eyes briefly to hold the tears at bay. Her muscles were completely rigid and they only relaxed a little when Ava stroked Sara’s cheek with the hand cupping it, her other one still curled around Sara’s hand. The smaller blonde leaned into the touch, remembering where she was, with whom she was and that she was safe, that she wasn’t alone anymore.  
Sara breathed a quick _thanks_ and began to speak again, “Then he confronted me with something I kept to myself all those weeks because I was so... ashamed, and I felt, still feel, so responsible for her death that I couldn’t even tell anyone. Not even my parents nor the police.” And suddenly her anxiety appeared.

_What would Ava think about my behaviour? Would she leave me? Would she not take it seriously and shrug it off as if it was nothing? Would she still like me even though I led a person down once? What would I do without her? I couldn’t bear to lose someone again. Not after I let her already in. Fuck._

“Sara, you can tell me. Whatever it is you’re so afraid to tell me, I won’t judge you,” the soft and fond tone in Ava’s voice pulled Sara away from her anxiety once more.

“I-I was at a party where I wasn’t allowed to go. Laurel was out looking for me around the place where I was because Dad would’ve given me hell if he found out I had been out longer than I was allowed to. And she died somewhere near the club I was in and I-” Sara wasn’t able to speak further, a lump stuck in her throat as tears welled up in her eyes again.

“Sara, it’s okay. I understand,” Ava said with gentle voice, a tender smile on her features, squeezing Sara’s hand one more time to show her support. And although the fear that Ava eventually would reject her hadn’t left her yet, Sara felt the lump slowly vanishing. Another tear rolled down her cheek, and this time, Ava caught it with her thumb, swiping it away before holding her gaze with a fond look in her greyish-blue eyes, leaving Sara mesmerized for a long moment. It made her feel the unfamiliar familiar warmth again, lulling her into a safe place where no one could hurt her, where she was just with Ava. Where her world was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again :D  
> I hope you enjoyed reading and please let me know what you think!  
> I wanted to say thanks to all the people who left kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions and read thing story in general! <3
> 
> The next chapter might take a little longer because exams are coming soon and I'm working on another project.  
> Also, the gap between Sara and Laurel is wider than in the show, here it's around 5 years.
> 
> Have a nice day!


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